What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been: How the United States Men’s National Team Punched Their Ticket to Brazil

On June 16, 2014, the United States Men’s National Team will face Ghana in Natal, Brazil in their first game at this year’s FIFA World Cup. That’s the simple part of this story. How did Jurgen Klinsmann’s squad get to Brazil? That takes a bit more explaining.

Let’s go back to June 8, 2012¹. That’s the day the U.S. officially opened their qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup with a 3-1 victory over Antigua & Barbuda in the third round² of CONCACAF³ Qualifying. Between then and now, all the USMNT did was compile a qualifying record of 11-3-2, win the 2013 Gold Cup⁴, win a U.S. Soccer record 12 straight matches in all competitions, and claim the top spot in CONCACAF for the third straight qualification cycle.

• We’re going to Brazil!  • US beats Jamaica in stoppage time  • US Begins 2014 World Cup Qualification  SEARCH ENTIRE WFNY FC ARCHIVE

Thanks to a 4-1-1 record in their third round qualifying group that featured Antigua & Barbuda, Guatemala, and Jamaica, the United States advanced to the Hexagonal – a grueling final qualification stage that featured home and away matches against the other five nations (Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and Panama).

That final round got off to quite an inauspicious start when the USMNT headed to San Pedro Sula to take on Honduras on February 6. In spite of being staked to an early lead, courtesy of a Clint Dempsey goal, a litany of mistakes by the U.S. defense resulted in a 2-1 defeat. For many, the disastrous performance of the backline in that match confirmed their worst fears about this iteration of the USMNT – that they simply did not have the defensive personnel necessary to compete at the World Cup. Little did those doubters know just how quickly that narrative would change.

The turnaround began in late March, on a snowy night just outside of Denver. In soccer terms, it was far from a pretty display, but, to the diehard American fans who braved the cold or watched from home, it was certainly a game that will never be forgotten. Backdropped by a carpet of white over the entire pitch, the United States defeated Costa Rica on another goal from the man they call “Deuce,” this one buried into an open net off a deflected Jozy Altidore shot . The game was not without controversy – play was stopped in the 55th minute to clear the lines and Costa Rica would eventually protest the continuation of the match – but to American supporters, it was a much-needed victory and three points in the standings.

The Costa Rica match jumpstarted a run of remarkable form for Jurgen Klinsmann’s squad. Just four days after the snowy victory, the Americans ground out a gritty scoreless draw with Mexico at the always hostile Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. In June, the U.S. headed to Kingston, where poor marking on a free kick led to an 89th minute Jamaican equalizer that erased a United States lead via Jozy Altidore’s first half header. However, an unlikely source would provide a dramatic stoppage time winner when Brad Evans – a midfielder by trade whom Klinsmann elected to start at right back – put a spinning shot past Jamaican keeper Donovan Ricketts in the 92nd minute to give the Americans an unlikely victory and two crucial extra points in the Hex standings.

The rest of June brought two more victories and a sense of reassurance about the previously shaky backline, as goalkeeper Tim Howard and the defense were able to keep both Panama and Honduras off the score sheet. In Seattle, the USMNT put together a complete performance en route a 2-0 defeat of the Canaleros⁵. Altidore buried a cross from Fabian Johnson to open the scoring and forward Eddie Johnson – who was somewhat inexplicably left off Klinsmann’s preliminary 30-man World Cup roster – doubled the margin in the second half off a beautiful ball from Geoff Cameron. Against Honduras in Salt Lake City, the result was in question for a bit longer, but finally in the 73rd minute Altidore finished off another pass from Fabian Johnson to keep the Americans at the top of the Hex standings and continue his stellar run of scoring form for the national team.

Following a three-month layoff, the U.S. resumed their qualifying schedule in San Jose (Costa Rica, not California) on September 6 against the Ticos. A pregame ankle injury to all-everything midfielder and American engine Michael Bradley proved to be a setback the Yanks could not overcome, as they fell 3-1 in a rather uninspiring performance. However, thanks to Mexico’s home loss to Honduras, the United States maintained pace in the quest for one of the top three spots in the Hex that come with automatic qualification for Brazil.

Just four days after the match in San Jose, the American side was back home to take on archrival Mexico at Crew Stadium in Columbus. The city has become somewhat of a permanent home for this intense rivalry game. The fixture is almost always rife with implications for World Cup qualification and Hex positioning, so the decision by U.S. Soccer to stage the game in Ohio’s capital for a fourth consecutive qualification cycle is proof that there is a thriving soccer culture in the Buckeye State – one that has proved instrumental in a number of momentous American victories.

I was fortunate enough to be at this year’s edition of the match against Mexico, and I can say without a doubt that the atmosphere alone was worth the two days of class I skipped to be in Columbus on a Tuesday night. I’ve been to a BCS Championship game and I’ve watched games in some of the most iconic college football stadiums this country has to offer, and not a single one of those games could compare to the energy and electricity in Crew Stadium that night. Michael Bradley was still out due to injury, and three key United States players (forward Jozy Altidore, center back Geoff Cameron, and fellow central defender Matt Besler) were also unavailable due to yellow card accumulation, but the chants and songs from the American Outlaws⁶ section were loud and endless.

When Eddie Johnson finally broke the scoreless draw with a towering header off of a Landon Donovan free kick in the 49th minute, the sighs of relief from the intensely pro-American crowd manifested themselves as an eardrum-shattering roar. When Donovan doubled the lead from substitute Mix Diskerud’s low cross in the 78th, the cheers were just as loud. Dempsey would put a stoppage time penalty kick wide, but it didn’t matter. When the final whistle blew, the United States had again defeated their Mexican rivals by a score of “Dos a Cero”

The victory over Mexico all but guaranteed the U.S. a spot in Brazil, and that spot was made official a little over an hour later when news reached Columbus that Panama and Honduras had played to a draw in Tegucigalpa. The players and a few hundred fans who had stayed in the stadium celebrated the accomplishment with champagne, dancing, and that most American of beverages – Bud Light.

Even with their spot secured, the work was not done for Klinsmann’s team. On October 11 in Kansas City, the Yanks clinched first place in the Hex with a 2-0 defeat of Jamaica behind tallies from midfielder Graham Zusi and Altidore. Four days later in Panama City, the Stars & Stripes stormed back from a 2-1 deficit with two stoppage time goals from Zusi and Icelandic striker Aron Johannsson⁷. Inadvertently, those two goals saved Mexico’s World Cup hopes, as Panama would have finished fourth in the Hex had the 2-1 scoreline stood. Instead, Mexico finished fourth and advanced to Brazil thanks to a two-leg playoff victory over New Zealand.

That’s where we stand today, with the United States waiting patiently for their World Cup campaign to begin after a two-year long qualifying journey full of twists and dramatic turns. The competition only gets tougher now, as Jurgen Klinsmann’s boys find themselves drawn into a proverbial “Group of Death” with world powers Germany and Portugal as well as American kryptonite Ghana. But, if the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that just when you think you have the USMNT all figured out, they’re most liable to pull some more magic from deep within their bag of tricks. Here’s to hoping the trend continues in Brazil.

***

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

1. For those counting, that’s 739 days before the Ghana match. [↩]
2. As one of the top six ranked nations in the region, the Americans earned a bye to this stage of qualifying. [↩]
3. Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, the governing body for international football in this part of the world. [↩]
4. A tournament unrelated to World Cup Qualifying, but one that is effectively the CONCACAF regional championship. [↩]
5. For you newcomers to the sport, that’s the nickname for Panama’s squad. Other fun team names include the Reggae Boyz of Jamaica, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions, and the Socceroos, who of course represent Australia. [↩]
6. The USMNT supporters club. [↩]
7. Johannsson was born to Icelandic parents in Mobile, Alabama – making him eligible to play for the U.S. His one-time switch from the Icelandic National Team to the USMNT was approved by FIFA on August 13, 2013. [↩]