U.S. Soccer is at a crossroads

The U.S. men’s soccer team has now come full circle. Twenty-eight years ago, the Americans needed a goal from Paul Caligiuri to beat Trinidad & Tobago and qualify for the 1990 World Cup — its first appearance since 1950.

Now, it was T&T that prevented the Americans from making it back to the World Cup. As much as the soccer world was perplexed when the Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, it was downright stunned when the worst possible result that could befell the U.S. happened when Team USA was shocked, 2-1 Tuesday night — coupled with wins from Panama and Honduras — to be denied a spot in the world’s biggest tournament.

The loss means the last 30 years have essentially been for naught and don’t expect it to get any better in the coming years. No U.S. team has qualified for the last two Olympic tournaments, which is where the bulk of any national team is culled. And all those generations of kids playing youth soccer? Yeah, that was really just day care for 95 percent of those playing.

“The thing I’m disappointed in is the hype about (youth) clubs and academies saying they’re going to make this nation a soccer nation,” said Guy Oling, a longtime soccer coach and official, who played in college and later became a professional in the 1970s. “The academies and clubs can’t claim, at this point, that they’ve developed anybody.”

So what is the U.S. Soccer Federation to do? Who knows? This thing needs a complete overhaul — starting with the head man, Sunil Gulati.

Any American success on the soccer pitch the last decade has come in spite of Gulati. But when his grand Jürgen Klinsmann experiment failed miserably, he had no backup plan, despite the fact that it became apparent early on the former German superstar was not the answer. Until the federation gets a leader who is more interested in growing the national team instead of Major League Soccer, the Americans will continue to blunder through the soccer-have-not universe.

“I think that the hierarchy of U.S. Soccer needs to be restructured. People who are on the move in soccer,” Oling said. “Someone who has some technical background (in the game). Someone who isn’t a businessman.”

The biggest problem has been the over-reliance on MLS players, who have been encouraged to stay and develop domestically instead of moving overseas and playing against higher-caliber competition. MLS is a nice league. Its level of play has certainly risen since its inception in 1995, but it can’t compete, talent-wise, with the European or even the South American leagues, which is where the best players in the world hone their game.

And before you start pointing out all the European stars who have come to MLS over the last several years, look a little closer. Much like you saw with the NASL in the 1970s and early ’80s, these European “stars” are at the twilight of their careers. They can no longer stay on top in overseas leagues, but they can still be big draws and be successful playing against MLS talent.

But as far as developing World Cup-caliber talent? The MLS has been found lacking.

If you want to look at the situation strictly on the field, the team is woefully under-talented. There are literally two players — 19-year-old wunderkind Christian Pulisic and 24-year-old- winger DeAndre Yedlin — who deserve to stay with the team.

But Jorge Villafaña? Paul Arriola? Darlington Nagbe? Yeah, thanks for your service. And DaMarcus Beasley was on the bench? What is this, 2002?

“We have an old guard,” Oling said. “But who’s replacing them? Who’s on the roster (pool of players) who wasn’t included (for the game Tuesday)?”

The defensive line is absolutely atrocious — and has been for years. Midfielder Michael Bradley might be the most overrated American player of all time. Clint Dempsey, one of the most decorated American players, is at the end of the line, especially in light of his recent heart issues. Jozy Altidore scored in the run of play in a 4-0 win over Panama — just three days prior to the T&T debacle — but that was the exception to his rule of seemingly only scoring on penalty kicks. Goalkeeper Tim Howard is going to be 39 soon and yet there is still no heir apparent between the posts.

Perhaps the failure in the Caribbean will be a positive. Maybe it will lead to the overhaul of a federation and team that has simply never lived up to even modest expectations.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. You can follow him on Twitter @CheckkThissOutt.