By SBI SOCCER
In 90 minutes, the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team can qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
They just have to knock out Honduras at Rio Tinto Stadium (3 p.m. ET, NBC Universo).
The pair of foes come together in the first of two CONCACAF semifinals Saturday, and with a win, the U.S. can qualify for next summer’s tournament in Brazil. The loser will have to play in the region’s third-place match and must win in order to play Colombia in a play-off tie for a spot in the Olympics.
Honduras comes into today’s match with a point to prove after losing to Mexico in Group B’s final game. While the Hondurans put up a fight and kept the scoreline close, thanks to Alberth Elis’s second goal of the tournament, El Tri secured the top spot in the group and will play Canada in the second semifinals match.
The U.S. enters the draw with Honduras undefeated, cruising through Group A with three wins while outscoring opponents 13-2. Jordan Morris and Jerome Kiesewetter have lit up the scoreboard for the Americans and will hope to do the same in Sandy, Utah.
SBI will be providing live commentary of the today’s affair, so, as always, please feel free to join us. You can leave your thoughts, opinions, commentary, analysis, and questions in the chat below.
Enjoy the match:
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Embarrassing, but pretty much what I’v become to expect from US youth teams. Roll through your group, and then come into the knockout rounds like someone is just going to hand you the win. Honduras’ theatrics at the end were ridiculous, but they played with more urgency and out hustled the US for 80 minutes. Even down a goal the US players just looked like they expected the ball to materialize in the Honduran net. How many times did a US player get trapped on the sideline trying to hold the ball or dribble past a defender until another Honduran came over to help take the ball, all while the US teammates stood around waiting for him to free himself? How many 50/50 balls did the Hondurans run through the ball and the US player pulled up?
From many of the comments on this board many fans have the same dismissive attitude toward CONCACAF teams (Mexico excepted) that the players have. It’s ridiculous. Soccer is not that complicated, it’s not hard to find 11 great athletes in a population of 8 million. The size and wealth of the US doesn’t make as much of a difference as we’d like it to in soccer. It’s making less of a difference in basketball than it used to and we had a 60 year head start on everyone.
If you picked one team out of the US and Honduran combined player pool. There would be a good amount of Hondurans on the squad.
I think if this US team was playing in a European tournament today, they would have put in a better effort. It’s time to stop writing off the top 10 or so teams in CONCACAF at any level.
We need someone like Pekerman to start with our youth teams. Once we change our youth teams and system: changes will come to USNT.
At this moment, USNT can’t replace a player like Donovan. Who’s going replace Dempsey?
USA a poor side, mostly long balls and hope. Doesn’t work when you’re not winning either the first or second ball. It appears that many of the USA players just don’t get enough minutes, anywhere. Their skill level is definitely below Honduras. One young sub, Aloshe’s (spelling my fault) touch and tackling was so bad he’d get pulled from an U-12 game. Serna was outclassed all day long. For some reason nobody in the side with a couple exceptions looks strong in the tackle. Hopefully they won’t go to Rio and embarrass everybody.
That was hard to watch for all 95 minutes. Had these guys met before the party last night, and just how hungover were they?
CONCACAF showed FIFA how to do it
Well that was ugly. Too many of the guys played like 15 year olds wanting to be the hero, keeping the ball too long, stumbling with it, forgetting to keep moving as a team, keep passing. Honduras did what they had to, by congesting the middle, playing physical, albeit with the usual playacting as well (but it worked as they got into the USA players’ heads), and taking their chances. Well, what can you do. The USA has no choice but to regather themselves for the long haul as they now must win 2 even more important games. That 3rd place match now is for something.
Can we hire Jorge Luis Pinto?
I honestly can’t tell which team was the dirtiest today, we’ve become a CONCACAF minnow.
So the best plan this multi-million dollar coaching staff can come up with is to stick Matt Miazga up front and lump it up to him?
Well lumping it up to Morris the entire match didn’t work.
Yes, this was an obvious strategy that was obviously failing. The USA players didn’t have the long pass accuracy (& wasn’t even close).
Why is our game plan lumping it up to anyone? If you’re going to do that you might as well have Miazga up there (he almost scored at the end) but why are we playing like that?
It was an awful game plan (if you even want to call it that). We should have kept possession in the first half, however we ran our self into the ground chasing balls and never keeping it.
desperation I guess. If our players can’t play the short pass good enough…not sure why they are trying the long one…unless they’re afraid of turning it over in their end (which they did anyway).
We have lost American grit. We are trying to be to technical against teams that like to beat you up. If we want to compete in CONCACAF we must expect teams that win ugly. We are being exposed against teams that like to bully you off the ball
Again quit blaming Honduras or FIFA. Absurd.
Our players were flat, hesitant and look like whiny pubks.
our players were bad…but the acting & crap that is modern CONCACAF is a joke.
unless you like the acting? It’s pathetic and the only sport where men act like Jim Carrey.
Blah blah… make a play and win the game. We got puked out.
you’re ignoring the fact it gives them a ridiculous edge. Everyone has already said we sucked…read
Hahahahahah… okay it gives them an edge.. please.. I saw the game.. perhaps we should do the same then??. We sucked gave them an edge.
That’s how Honduras teams always act. It’s embarrassing but it’s not nearly as embarrassing as the US performance. Absolutely terrible. But then, I’m just a dumb American soccer fan who knows nothing. Maybe that performance was actually great, like the Jamaica game at the Gold Cup, and I’m too stupid to realize. Someone ask JK.
Exactly. They always play that way..Why are some USMNT fans complaining . What were you expecting tiki taka???.. lol… . In the past we’ve got past the antics by making plays… how bout making a play!..
Gulati and JK need to really reconsider whatever it is that they’re doing… This back to back youth failures..
We’re going nowhere.
So you’re saying that both can’t happen? Of course the USA was flat. At the same time, isn’t FIFA supposed to institute referees that can keep control of the match? Both the Honduran and USA players were getting out of control at the end. No cards whatsoever. Both teams probably should have ended the match with 9 men.
Yeah Honduras acting like Honduras just made the pathetic US performance more frustrating.
They did what the senior team hasn’t been able to do with the senior US MNT. They got into the heads of this youth team. It was pathetic and it worked.
That’s not why we lost. We lost cause of us. Make a play. Quit expecting Honduras to have class on the pitch. Like you siad our players were out of control too…so what difference does it make.. Honduras has never been known for playing classy..
We lost cause we couldn’t play better. Good teams can play over that nonsense.
And?
As bad as they played, they pulled one back that was wrongly called offside by the REFEREE. How can a team play, even a “bad” one, if they can’t play with the referee not keeping control of the match? USA played bad, referee officiated bad, Honduras won. In the end, all aspects of the match are allowed to be looked at. Players, coaches, referees, etc.
And?
Thats one play.. look at the whole game.. we sat on our a s s … What we do (or didn’t do in this case) dictated the result of the game. That play doesn’t change the fact that during the game we look like trash.
Meltdown complete. It’s like the men’s program has gone backward to 1990.
Correcto.
You can criticize me all you want, but this shiat does not happen to Mexico in Mexico. That’s why they are still the undisputed best soccer nation in CONCACAF…by far since we happen to be regressing the last 5 years or so.
maybe it’s because more than 20 ppl show up cheering for them.
just watch later tonight, all the mojados will be chunking garbage at US players. Why are they here then?
Mexico needs to win a few more head to head matches against the US to be the “Undisputed best” in Concacaf. Mexico isn’t head and shoulders ahead of the US senior team by any metric.
Mexico has some truly fantastic players at the moment and should win tonight. However Mexico has struggled to live up to expectations in the last 20 years.
No Arriola, Rubio, Guido, Oaxaca Grasshopper, Ryan Larsen, Pulisic, De La Torre, or Novakovich.
Maybe the kid playing in Reim say “NO” with USNT now.
Who cares? It’s not like signing up a bunch of passport Americans has actually worked.