The United States Men’s National Team hosted Mexico at the Rose Bowl in a one off playoff match to decide who will represent CONCACAF in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. As one of the most intense rivalries in the world was set to begin, fans geared up to watch the two giants clash in Pasadena on Saturday night.
Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann was tasked with preparing a U.S. team that has fizzled out since performances in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil that lit up headlines across the nation. They failed to answer the bell yet again, falling to their bitter rivals to the south, 3-2 in extra time.
The U.S. team during Klinsmann’s era has been plagued with something I like to call phantom wins or phantom performances. When one looks at the 3-2 score line in this instance, they would undoubtedly think that the game was closer than it was. But the reality is that the U.S. was outplayed in every aspect of this game.
This U.S. team has had a tendency in recent months to be absent for large portions of the game, only to turn up for one defining moment and then to fizzle out again as the game goes on. American fans saw this in the Gold Cup over the summer when the U.S. team hosted Jamaica in the semi-finals of that competition. That’s what happened to them, and that’s exactly what happened last night against Mexico.
The hype leading up to this game, all of the interviews with players and coaches and the international implications spelled for an exciting match with two juggernauts of the game coming at each other for 90 minutes. Instead what we got was a U.S. team that stayed back and absorbed pressure, seeking to catch Mexico on the counter attack.
A tactic often implemented by teams that are playing away from home, or have less attacking prowess than the opposition, neither of which applied to the American team on Saturday night. Mexico dominated possession, created the most chances and outplayed the U.S. the entire night. And despite goals from Stoke City’s Geoff Cameron and Union Berlin’s Bobby Wood, the USMNT fell to Mexico in the Rose Bowl.
Not even considering the implications of what I had just seen, the sight of watching that Mexican team lift the trophy and celebrate on American soil brought up feelings reminiscent of the 5-0 loss in the Gold Cup final under Bob Bradley in 2011. That game cost then-coach Bob Bradley his job.
One of the major talking points coming into this match was the languid performances coming from Klinsmann’s side over the past few months. Despite victories in Germany and the Netherlands in friendlies over the summer, the U.S. team couldn’t get victories when it counted. This reality put Klinsmann’s four-year reign as USMNT coach under intense scrutiny.
American soccer star Landon Donovan stated before the game some pressing remarks about the implications of the upcoming match on Klinsmann’s job. Donovan said in an interview with the ESPN FC Boot Room, “Around the world, if a player plays poorly and a player has a bad string of results, they get dropped from the team. Jurgen said many times he wants our players to feel pressure — so if they lose a game they can’t go to the grocery store the next day. If they lose a game, they are getting hammered in the press.
“Well, the same holds true for the coach, and so we had a very poor summer with bad results in the Gold Cup. The last game against Brazil was probably the worst game I’ve seen them play under Jurgen. The reality is that now, anywhere else in the world, if this coach had those results, and they lose this game against Mexico, they’d be fired. I think if Jurgen wants to hold all the players to that standard, then he has to be held to that standard too.”
A sentiment that is no doubt being echoed by fans and pundits alike.
The reality is that the U.S. needed its big players to step up against Mexico, and they just flat-out didn’t. Absent performances from Clint Dempsey and captain Michael Bradley lended to a loathsome performance from the U.S., and with the USMNT playing a dangerous Costa Rica team on Tuesday, fans will be hoping it isn’t just more of the same.
