The U.S. U-23 men’s national soccer team and head coach Andi Herzog have missed their mark and now are close to joining their immediate predecessor in infamy.
The U-23s, who double as the U.S. men’s Olympic soccer team, lost 2-0 to Honduras on Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah in the semifinals of the 2015 Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship. Honduras booked its place in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with the victory, and the U.S. now must win two playoff games in order to advance to Brazil.
Striker Alberth Elis scored both goals for Honduras. Elis notched his first in the 23rd minute by controlling a cross inside the U.S. penalty area and beating goalkeeper Ethan Horvath with a powerful shot.
Team USA controlled possession and territory for much of the game but failed to unlock the Hondurans’ deep-lying defense.
Honduras clearly had frustrated the U.S. by the time Elis doubled his team’s lead in the 77th minute with another fine finish.
Jordan Morris appeared to reduce Team USA’s deficit in the 83rd minute, but the referee’s assistant ruled the U.S. forward offside in a controversial decision.
Honduras qualified for its third consecutive Summer Olympic games.
The U.S. will play the loser of Mexico-Canada on Tuesday in the third-place game. The winner of that contest will face Colombia in March in Brazil in a one-game playoff to determine the final Olympic qualifier.
Team USA failed to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London after crashing out of the CONCACAF tournament in the group stage.
U.S. men’s national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann told ESPN earlier this week another missed Olympics would cost the senior team “another generation of young players.” The heat is on Klinsmann’s right-hand man Herzog.
Grab your seats, U.S. soccer fans. We could be watching another Olympic-sized soccer fail, the consequences of which will reverberate well into the future.
Thumbnail photo via Jeff Swinger/USA TODAY Sports Images
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