USA soccer suffers a devastating loss

Do the recent defeats mean the Americans aren’t going to qualify for the World Cup? Pacific Time at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Fresh from its win over the United States, Juan Carlos Osorio’s Mexico were unable to produce a similar performance.

Instead, the Ticos put the Americans on the defensive from the beginning and eventually broke through against reserve keeper Brad Guzan, who kept the U.S.in the match through most of the first half until a John Brooks turnover set Costa Rica up with a scoring chance in the 43rd minute.

A very pale performance from Klinsmann’s men whose job is now in jeopardy with two opening defeats. When Gulati dispensed with Bob Bradley following defeat in the 2011 Gold Cup final it was because he finally saw the chance to get Klinsmann, a man he had long pursued to take the USA team to the next level. And now we have two defeats at the start of the Hexagonal. It was a tactical mismatch against Mexico’s strengths, and the USA had not played the formation in any games over the previous years.

On Friday, the U.S Men’s National Team opened up the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers- known as the Hex- with a match against Mexico in Columbus, Ohio. It’s in part because Gulati, a Columbia University economics professor with a deep history in USA and worldwide soccer, is a patient man. “There’s obviously some concern”.

The United States has lost their most recent game against Mexico in the WC Qualifying on this 12th November by the final score of 1-2. “There’s a lot of points left on the board – 24 to be exact”.

By far the biggest problem for the U.S.is their defense.

Not only did that not happen, the US team fell flat on its face – and it was Klinsmann who tied its shoes together to set up the ugly fall.

“We’re going to have to look collectively real hard in the mirror at ourselves and understand it’s not been a good start”, said captain Michael Bradley. Brad Guzan, who now plays for the English Premier League club Middlesbrough and who came in at the 40th minute of the match against Mexico, will take his place. Brooks and Omar Gonzalez started in the center of the back line. Only the Trinidadians have lost both of their matches in Round 5 of this qualifying stage. The result was a 4-0 United States of America win in Chicago, sending US to the next round and eliminating Costa Rica. And then, there was Venegas again, this time ghosting in front of Brooks and heading home from a near post run.

Bolanos scored after a turnover by 18-year-old midfielder Christian Pulisic near midfield. The Americans managed just one shot on target all night. He was a step behind all night on the slick, chunked-up turf.

There was some whistling during “The Star-Spangled Banner” from the capacity crowd of about 35,000. “Going all around the room and making sure when we are coming back in March, the first thing we are doing is competing”. Bolaños nodded home a saucy outside-of-the-foot cross from Bryan Ruiz for Costa Rica’s second in the 68th minute, triggering a full meltdown by the United States defense.

The opening goal came due to a mix-up between Jermaine Jones and John Brooks that allowed the home side to break, before Venegas, who plays club soccer for the Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer, got his head to a flawless cross from the left.

US lineup: Guzan; Chandler, Gonzalez, Brooks, Besler; Johnson (Zusi 77th), Jones (Kljestan 71st), Bradley, Pulisic (Gooch 70th); Wood, Altidore. Against the Ticos in San Jose, the Americans looked emotionally lost and, frankly, fed up. Honduras (1-1) has three points, and the U.S.is tied with Trinidad and Tobago.

In other CONCACAF matches, Honduras (three points) earned a 3-1 home victory over Trinidad and Tobago (none) and Mexico (four) settled for a 0-0 draw with host Panama (four).