The United States lost to Jamaica 2-1 in the Gold Cup semifinals on Wednesday night. Jamaica is 76th in the FIFA rankings, and until yesterday, had only beaten the U.S. once in 22 tries. Wednesday marked the first home loss to a Caribbean team since 1968.
Lyndon B. Johnson announced he wouldn’t seek re-election the last time the U.S. lost to a Caribbean team at home. Led Zeppelin made their first live appearance the last time the U.S. lost to a Caribbean team at home. 60 Minutes was making its television debut the last time the U.S. lost to a Caribbean team at home.
What does Wednesday’s Gold Cup loss mean in the big picture of U.S. soccer? Not terribly much. Winning the Gold Cup would have guaranteed the U.S. a place in the 2017 Confederations Cup, which they could still qualify for if they beat the winner of the Gold Cup in October. Assuming that happens and the U.S. beats either Mexico or Jamaica, this loss will have very little impact. In fact, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! is trending today instead of the lackluster performance from U.S. soccer or coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
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This loss does serve as a measuring stick of the progress made by the U.S. under Klinsmann. Consider the firing of his predecessor, Bob Bradley. Bradley’s 2010 U.S. team reached the World Cup Round of 16 before losing to Mexico in the Gold Cup final in 2011. He was fired after that loss. Klinsmann’s 2014 U.S. reached the World Cup Round of 16 before losing to Jamaica (which, you may have heard, doesn’t happen that often) in the Gold Cup semifinal.
Which of those losses seem worse to you?
Now, consider Klinsmann is being paid approximately five times more than Bradley. Consider the expectations and promises made when Klinsmann was hired four years ago. This was supposed to be the manager to vault U.S. soccer into a new hemisphere, develop young talent, and create a unique and competitive style of play. Klinsmann was billed – and by many, bought – as the missing element for soccer in America.
He’s none of those things, and frankly, the expectations were unfair in 2011 and they are asinine now. Everything in Klinsmann’s history as a manager is indicative of what we’re witnessing. There was nothing to indicate he was capable of living up to those promises when he was hired. His stint as the German national team coach and manager of Bayern Munich were marked by underperformance and harsh criticism both inside the teams and out. Klinsmann was a remarkable player who became a marginal coach.
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Where does all of this leave the U.S? In 2011, still. The youth development has more accurately been youth recruitment outside of the U.S., as Klinsmann has time and again belittled Major League Soccer and the players who choose to practice their trade domestically. There has been little discernible improvement over the past four years, but that didn’t prevent U.S. soccer from offering Klinsmann a contract extension through 2018.
The U.S. is stuck with Klinsmann and the team he’s built. It isn’t a bad team. But it isn’t a very good team either. It’s a team well-rooted in above-averageness, which seems to be the accepted identity of U.S. soccer for the past 20 years.
