When you think of qualifying in CONCACAF, you’d think the USMNT would breeze through the early stages. Many thought that the loss to Mexico would be head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s last match in charge of the first team. Now we sit here, two matches in and Jurgen is still calling the shots from the sideline. In case you’ve missed the first two matches in the group, the US won 6-1 against St. Vincent & The Grenadines, and drew Trinidad & Tobago in a goalless match. The next matches are against Guatemala in a home and home affair. Besides the final scores, how has the team done overall? Let’s dive right in and see how the qualifying has gone so far.
The first match was always going to be one that the USMNT would win. We were a larger and much deeper country and showed that on the pitch. Not too much to go into in this matchup.
The same cannot be said about the match against T&T. The match realistically should be a win for the U.S. We are arguably one of the two strongest teams in our qualifying region and we continually drop points against smaller nations. But who is to blame? Jurgen? Are we overlooking the players and blaming the manager too much? I believe so.
Many have scrutinized how Jurgen coaches and the tactics he chooses in big matches, but take a look back to the match against Mexico in the Gold Cup, in which Jurgen made the great choices to bring on DeAndre Yedlin, Brad Davis and Bobby Wood. Wood scored the equalizing goal and looked destined to score another. Yedlin and Davis played well and brought on a late surge for the US. If not for an insane goal, the subs could have helped the US walk out of Pasadena with a win. Through two matches, we have 4 points and sit top of the group. Even though we didn’t win the match in T&T, we took a point out of an away fixture, that’s crucial in moving forward. Even though we are not playing the most beautiful soccer on the planet, the USMNT looks to be in a good position to qualify easily for the World Cup in 2018.
Should the US be worried about how the last two matches have gone? Let us know your thoughts below.