By Juan Carlos Maygua
The Olympic dream will have to wait for the USYNT after losing to Honduras in the Olympic qualifiers. It could be argued that individual mistakes lead to defeat, but I believe that they leave positive points behind. The team was able to build up and gain momentum despite outside factors that limited their potential. From players not being released by clubs to many joining the camp without proper fitness preparations, the list can go on. Although, I’m sure that if the circumstances were different, we would have seen one of the strongest youth teams to date. The result is disappointing, and one could easily point out the flaws or mistakes that lead to a negative outcome. I, however, chose to focus on the positive points that the team left in regard tothe future.
One aspect that impressed me the most was the confidence at goal. David Ochoa displayed a level of confidence that is unexpected in his position. He was key in the victory against Costa Rica, providing security every time the team required his interventions. Ochoa had a solid game against Honduras until the mistake that led to the second goal. A mistake that hopefully becomes a learning experience for him, it wouldn’t be fair to him that his career is defined by that error in judgment. Jonathan Lewis, Jackson Yueill, and Dorde Mihailovic impressed me in the midfield. Lewis has an excellent presence inside the box and it’s key to creating spaces. A player that has a good future ahead. Mihailovic was erased by Honduras, but in the correct circumstances, he can be a game-changer. Especially coming from the bench, this allows him to understand the opponent and can balance the game in his team’s favor. Yueill is a leader by nature. His goal might have not been enough to push a comeback for the National Team, but his vision and man-marking abilities provide security and game creation for any squad he’s involved in. Unfortunately, the result could mark the members of this team negatively, but there’s always a chance for redemption down the line.
Head Coach Jason Kreis pointed out that while the squad has enough potential to reach important things, small details like misplaced passes, bad ball controls, or nerves took a toll on the players and contributed to the result. “We all wanted this so badly for many different reasons. It could be that sometimes when you want it too bad, you put yourself in a position where you can’t perform to the level needed. At the end of the day, I don’t think we had enough”. Kreis pointed out that in the final third the players were not on their best day and that hurt the team in the long run. He also emphasized that missing out on the Olympics prevented many of the players to continue growing on an international level. The general feeling points to the structure of the project and the ghosts of past failures return to the federation. While decisions will be made, there is still a bright future ahead for U.S. soccer, but there’s one final piece missing. In the meantime, I close this column with Kreis’s best response.
“It’s my very strong feeling that there are extremely good players with extremely high potential in that room that are young, and they need to continue to develop, learn and continue to move forward. It’s a fact of life that you lose more than you win, and it’s always going to be about who gets up and moves forward the quickest. These disappointments happen in your life over and over again, and you have no choice but to move forward. I hope that these players do that”