COUVA, Trinidad and Tobago — On the most surreal and embarrassing night in U.S. soccer history, the U.S. men’s national team lost 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago (the worst team in the CONCACAF Hexagonal) and was eliminated from contention for World Cup 2018. 
 
 The doomsday scenario happened. 
 
 All the U.S. needed to do to qualify for the World Cup was to win or tie. And they lost, a deserving defeat that ended a miserable qualifying campaign—three wins in 10 Hexagonal games—and will raise enormous questions about the overall direction of the U.S. Soccer Federation, the players and coach Bruce Arena. The U.S. loss opened the door to Panama and Honduras, which both needed to win to ensure the U.S. elimination, which was exactly what happened. Honduras rallied from two deficits to beat Mexico in San Pedro Sula, while Panama rode a controversial Blas Perez opener and a Roman Torres late winner to beat Costa Rica in Panama City. 
 
 Here are three thoughts on the USA's ouster: 
 
 The U.S. should be utterly embarrassed 
 
 On a night when Arena’s team had control of its own destiny, the Americans had one of the most infamous belly-flops in U.S. soccer history, losing to the already-eliminated Trinis with everything on the line for the United States. 
 
 In a pitiful first-half performance, the U.S. lacked urgency and went through the motions while the hosts looked like the ones who had a chance to qualify for the World Cup. Trinidad and Tobago took a 2-0 halftime lead on an own-goal by Omar Gonzalez and a golazo from distance by Alvin Jones, and the U.S. response was tepid at best. This was a team with players acting like they thought they had already qualified for the World Cup, and it showed. 
 
 Only one U.S. player had a decent game 
 
 Christian Pulisic pulled one back for the Americans early in the second half with a laser from outside the box. Pulisic was largely bottled up otherwise, but at least he had one dazzling moment. His teammates could hardly say the same. Forwards Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood were nonexistent. Wings Darlington Nagbe and Paul Arriola were invisible. Goalkeeper Tim Howard could have been in better position on both goals. And Gonzalez showed with his own-goal and what should have been called a penalty soon thereafter that he was a poor choice by Arena to be on the field, especially with Premier League starter Geoff Cameron on the bench. 
 
 Tear it all down 
 
 The far-reaching impacts of this colossal failure will be felt for a long time, not just by the figures on the field on Tuesday but also by the millions and millions of dollars lost by any number of stakeholders in the sport in the United States. The men’s World Cup only comes around once every four years, and the missed opportunity to create millions of new soccer fans in the U.S. is a crushing blow. Missing the World Cup won’t cripple the sport in the U.S., but it will be a huge step back for a sport that had been on the rise for a long time. ||||| Ashley Allen/Getty Images 
 
 The United States Men's National Team lost to Trinidad & Tobago, 2-1, on Tuesday night and were eliminated from the 2018 World Cup as a result. 
 
 There is plenty of blame to go around, including to a phantom goal that helped Panama jump the Americans in the standings, but the brunt of it should and will be placed on the players and coaches who underperformed for the better part of a year of CONCACAF qualifying play. 
 
 The loss is devastating to the US men's soccer program, which had not missed a World Cup since 1986. But some executives at Fox Sports are surely just as upset with the result as coach Bruce Arena and his players. 
 
 To win a bidding war with ESPN, Fox agreed to pay $400 million for the English-broadcast rights to the World Cup in 2018 and 2022. With the Americans eliminated from 2018 contention, those broadcasts are most likely significantly less valuable than previously imagined. 
 
 If the US had made next year's finals, Fox would've gotten the chance to broadcast three group-stage games for the US side, with the possibility of more if the Americans were able to make a run into the knockout round. Instead, Fox will have to dig a bit deeper to find compelling storylines for American fans in the biggest tournament in the world. 
 
 While there will still be plenty of interest in Russia 2018, it's no doubt disappointing to both American soccer fans and Fox that the US will not be a part of the competition. USMNT supporters had hoped that this World Cup would be a swan song for some of the stars who had brought so them much joy, including Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, and Tim Howard. It was also supposed to serve as a coming-out party and passing of the torch for the American wunderkind Christian Pulisic, the 19-year-old who scored the Americans' lone goal Tuesday night and who is clearly the future of the team's success if it's to have any. 
 
 But rather than a final goodbye to beloved superstars and a grand welcome to the future of the sport, the American men's soccer machine will have to collect itself, lick its wounds, and figure out a way to recover. 
 
 And for Fox's initial investment to be worth anywhere near what it had anticipated, the USMNT must find a way to figure itself out ahead of 2022. ||||| On the final day of World Cup qualification Tuesday, Argentina needed a win in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, to advance to Russia. With everything to lose and a soccer mad country on pins and needles, the legendary Lionel Messi recorded a hat trick and Argentina was safe. 
 
 It’s crazy to compare Argentina to the United States because one country has the history and youth system to remain an international force. And we certainly don’t have and perhaps never will have a player on the level of Messi. 
 
 But the mission and the pressure were the same. And all Bruce Arena’s team had to do was earn a tie against tiny Trinidad and Tobago to keep the USA’s World Cup dream alive. 
 
 And we failed. 
 
 Spectacularly. 
 
 A shocking 2-1 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago, the worst team in the final round of CONCACAF regional qualifying and already eliminated, means no 2018 World Cup for the Red, White and Blue next summer. No trip to Russia. No grand stage for Christian Pulisic. And no luck for Fox Sports, which paid a fortune for the television rights. 
 
 It took 90-plus minutes for United States soccer to regress 30 years. 
 
 “It’s a blemish for us,” U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. “We should not be staying home for the World Cup.” 
 
 The U.S. finished fifth in the group. CONCACAF sends three teams automatically to the World Cup: Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama. The fourth, Honduras, heads to a playoff against an Asian confederation team, Australia. 
 
 It took 90-plus minutes for United States soccer to regress 30 years. (Ashley Allen/Getty Images) 
 
 The political backdrop was impossible to ignore. Mexico gave up an 88th minute goal and lost, 3-2, to Honduras. A Mexico draw would have moved the U.S. into fourth place and a playoff with Australia. The United States needed help from Mexico. Imagine that. We didn’t get it. 
 
 But really, the United States has only itself to blame. A tie would have secured third place and spot in Russia. It wasn’t asking much. 
 
 “We had everything there for us today,” Arena said. “No excuses for us not getting a second goal and at least a point.” 
 
 The U.S. was poor throughout qualifying. Jurgen Klinsmann was fired as coach 11 months ago after losing at home to Mexico and getting embarrassed, 4-0, in a loss at Costa Rica over a four-day stretch. Arena, who led the U.S. to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup, was installed as head coach. But a home loss to Costa Rica, followed by a draw against Honduras, put the team in the danger zone. 
 
 The U.S. last missed the World Cup in 1986. It clinched a berth in 1990 by winning at Trinidad and Tobago on the last day of qualification. That watershed victory sparked a growth for soccer in this country. Youth participation exploded, Major League Soccer started in 1996 and the popularity of the sport grew. 
 
 Even our player development improved. The best example is Pulisic, the 19-year-old budding star who scored the lone goal after the U.S. had fallen behind, 2-0, in the first half. 
 
 But we didn’t have enough players to replace some of our aging stars. Tim Howard, a world class goalie five years ago, simply doesn’t have it anymore. Clint Dempsey is no longer capable of playing 90 minutes. Michael Bradley has lost a step. 
 
 And our center back play was abysmal. Poor Omar Gonzalez, burned last month for Honduras’ goal, had his attempted clearance sail over Howard and into the net for an own goal. 
 
 The U.S. last missed the World Cup in 1986. (Ashley Allen/Getty Images) 
 
 “It’s one that will haunt me forever,” Gonzalez said. 
 
 The fallout from this will be epic. Heads will roll. Arena is done. Sunil Gulati, the president of the United States Soccer Federation, could be in trouble. 
 
 Maybe the United States needed a major setback to move forward. Good teams, even great teams, have missed the World Cup. England and France didn’t qualify in 1994. The Netherlands is out of the 2018 World Cup. Italy has to win a playoff to get in. 
 
 But it’s also much tougher to qualify in Europe. Same with South America. The United States has a geographic advantage, especially with the financial resources and population. 
 
 The players are here. We just haven’t discovered enough of them. And we haven’t developed enough of them. 
 
 It’s time for a reboot. 
 
 And now we have until 2022 to get it right. ||||| It’s been 31 years since May 31, 1986 — the last World Cup that didn’t feature the United States. That’s 11,456 days of progress for a sport that’s come so far in a country that still hasn’t fully embraced it. 
 
 All of that gone. 
 
 With U.S. soccer’s dreadful 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago on the final day of CONCACAF’s qualifying hexagonal for the 2018 World Cup, next summer’s tournament will not feature the USMNT. No Christian Pulisic. No Tim Howard. No Michael Bradley. With that loss, the USMNT gave a nation the lowest point in its sporting history, and it’s not really close. 
 
 CONCACAF is a grind, but compared to the other qualifying regions, the 3.5 World Cup spots out of six teams mean that the United States should be a lock to qualify. When it beat Panama, 4-0, on Friday, the U.S. put itself in position to escape a lackluster qualifying round with a spot in the tournament. All it really needed to do was take care of business at lowly Trinidad and Tobago. 
 
 They couldn’t even do that. With no sense of urgency, USMNT players and coaches had to watch as their CONCACAF counterparts did them no favors. Four years after the USMNT saved Mexico’s World Cup dreams, El Tri instead blew a lead to Honduras and helped seal the USMNT’s fate. Costa Rica also blew a lead to Panama on a goal that shouldn’t have counted and gave up a late winner as the U.S. decided to score-watch rather than take matters into its own hands. A mostly empty stadium in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago, felt even emptier on this night. 
 
 It’s really difficult to quantify how bad this loss was for U.S. Soccer. Sunil Gulati and Bruce Arena should both be gone. Tim Howard, whose last World Cup appearance was a legendary performance, will likely leave U.S. Soccer with the lasting image of his worst performance with the national team. As bad as things got for the USMNT, the possibility of missing the World Cup didn’t actually seem real. It’s that arrogance that likely brought the team to where it is right now — out of the World Cup. When U.S. soccer legend Alexi Lalas called out the USMNT, its biggest star, Pulisic, laughed off the attempted gut-check rant. 
 
 But when it comes down to it, though, the sport of soccer in the U.S. is going to feel the lasting effects the most. Every World Cup is an opportunity to grow the sport on the biggest stage. 
 
 Even the growth from 2010, to 2014, to now has been tremendous. A nation went crazy when Landon Donovan sent the USMNT into the Round of 16 with his late winner in 2010 (a loss would have meant an early trip home). A nation went crazy when John Brooks put the U.S. ahead against Ghana in 2014, as he ran around not fully processing what he had done. 
 
 Those moments forge memories and make lifelong fans of the sport. It creates momentum that makes it possible for an MLS team to draw 71,000 fans for a regular season match. Those moments inspire a young fan to kick around a soccer ball rather than throw a football. Those moments make it possible for a 19-year-old wonderkid to break through into the next level of international stardom. 
 
 That’s not happening anymore. It’s five years — at best — of the USMNT out of the forefront of American sports. All because U.S. soccer let 95 minutes of arrogance erase 31 years of progress. 
 
 And that is truly a shame. ||||| Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE The United States has qualified for its seventh straight World Cup, and it was time to look ahead to the draw on Dec. 6 and next year's tournament in Brazil. (Sept. 11) AP 
 
 United States forward Clint Dempsey (8) is defended by Mexico defender Hector Moreno (15) during the first half at Columbus Crew Stadium on Tuesday. (Photo: Rick Osentoski USA TODAY Sports) Story Highlights U.S. had to wait for Honduras-Panama result to clinch berth 
 
 Americans played without Altidore, Bradley 
 
 Howard deflected a header before the half to keep Mexico scoreless 
 
 COLUMBUS, Ohio — The chant started from somewhere on the rickety bleachers that held the American Outlaws, some of U.S. soccer's most ardent supporters. It grew, slowly at first, and then fiercely, until every nook and cranny of Crew Stadium reverberated from the noise. 
 
 "This is our house," yelled the crowd of 24,584. 
 
 And it was. Tuesday night belonged to the U.S. men's national team, which used a pair of second-half goals to topple Mexico 2-0 and qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The night also belonged to the fans, who stood from start to finish and stayed late to find out the Americans indeed had qualified. 
 
 But most of all, the night belonged to goalkeeper Tim Howard, who rebounded from a poor showing Friday in a loss at Costa Rica to keep El Tri off the scoreboard. 
 
 "It's expected of us (to make the World Cup), but it's never a guarantee," Howard said. "World Cup qualifying is tense. It's always so tight. … You can never really breathe a sigh of relief, but tonight we can." 
 
 The U.S. players had to wait until the Honduras-Panama match ended to punch their ticket to Brazil. Honduras tied Panama 2-2, solidifying the Americans' seventh consecutive trip to the World Cup. The U.S. players celebrated on the field, spraying champagne and cheering with the hundreds of fans who stayed for the party. 
 
 "We had confidence that (Honduras) would do it," Howard said. "Once they rolled the champagne in, it got even better." 
 
 With two qualifying matches left, the Americans moved into first place of their six-team qualifying group with 16 points, surpassing Costa Rica (15 points). Costa Rica tied Jamaica 1-1 on Tuesday. The top three teams in the group qualify for the World Cup, and the fourth-place team will play New Zealand in a playoff. 
 
 Things got even worse for Mexico, which fired coach Jose Manuel De la Torre on Saturday after a disappointing loss at home to Honduras. Mexico dropped to fifth in the group behind Panama based on goal differential. 
 
 The U.S. dominated the second half. Eddie Johnson punched in a header in the 49th minute, and Landon Donovan poked in a cross half an hour later. Clint Dempsey nearly made it 3-0 but missed a penalty kick in stoppage time when the game already had been decided. None of it would have happened without Howard. 
 
 Mexico earned a pair of corners in the first five minutes and could have scored in the 10th had Howard not reacted quickly to defender DaMarcus Beasley's awkward clearance that sliced backward. The veteran came up big again moments later, diving right to punch away a curling shot that looked destined for the back of the net. And on the final play before halftime, Howard deflected a header to keep Mexico off the scoreboard. 
 
 "You could see the psychological load in (Mexico's) minds that they started to doubt themselves," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. 
 
 The Americans played without Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley, two of their best players, and they were also missing Matt Besler and Geoff Cameron due to suspension. The absences proved especially detrimental in the opening minutes as the U.S. struggled to complete simple passes. When the Americans looked the most vulnerable, Howard proved to be the stone wall they needed, and he was seldom called upon in the second half as his team took to the offensive. 
 
 "I think we've answered the bell a bunch of times," Howard said. "I think it's part of this group's resiliency. It's good to see." ||||| The Americans had only a handful of seconds left to run out the clock and advance a step closer to the Olympics. With the pressure building with each tick, the victory slipped right through their hands. 
 
 El Salvador's Lester Blanco (17) celebrates with Andres Flores (20) after Blanco scored a goal against the United States in the first half of a CONCACAF Olympic qualifying soccer match on Monday, March... (Associated Press) 
 
 El Salvador's Lester Blanco (17) slides on the grass to his teammates after scoring a goal against the United States in the first half of a CONCACAF Olympic qualifying soccer match on Monday, March 26,... (Associated Press) 
 
 El Salvador's Richard Menjivar (16) chases down the ball with United State's Mix Diskerud (8) in the first half of a CONCACAF Olympic qualifying soccer match on Monday, March 26, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn.... (Associated Press) 
 
 El Salvador's Jaime Alas (10) falls as he chases the ball with United States' Freddy Adu (7) nd Kofi Sarkodie, right, in the first half of a CONCACAF Olympic qualifying soccer match on Monday, March 26,... (Associated Press) 
 
 The United States, known for producing top goalkeepers such as Brad Friedel, Kasey Keller and Tim Howard, found itself done in Monday night when substitute Sean Johnson couldn't handle a long shot from Jaime Alas of El Salvador in stoppage time. 
 
 The ball bounced off his hands, up over him and into the net, and El Salvador ousted the United States from Olympic qualifying with a 3-3 tie. 
 
 The stunned Americans missed the Olympics for the second time since 1976 and second time in three games. 
 
 "This is probably the worst feeling I've ever felt in my life so far as a pro athlete," U.S. captain Freddy Adu said. "This is going to be hard to get over. But at the end of the day things like this happen. For me, I never want to feel this way again, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to never feel this way again." 
 
 The Americans had to win to reach Saturday's semifinals in Kansas City, Kan., and they led 3-2 on Joe Corona's goal in the 68th minute. Officials added 4 minutes of stoppage time onto the game, and U.S. coach Caleb Porter said they were "seconds away" from closing out the win and taking the top spot in Group A. A television clock showed the ball going in 4 minutes, 14 seconds into stoppage time. 
 
 What happened is something U.S. midfielder Mix Diskerud said no one wants to experience in life, something he couldn't believe. 
 
 "The last 20 minutes after our third goal, all those minutes felt like very, very long hours. But I thought we were going to make it. Everybody thought we were going to make it.," Diskerud said. 
 
 "One shot." 
 
 Several Americans dropped to the field in exhaustion and disbelief after Alas' score, and Porter had to rally them back to their feet for one last gasp chance that didn't materialize. Porter said he hugged Johnson after the game. The 6-foot-4 keeper did not speak with reporters. 
 
 "He feels like he's let everybody down, let his teammates down, and I told him he didn't," Porter said. 
 
 El Salvador reached the semifinals, putting it a win away from its first Olympic berth since 1968. Canada, which tied Cuba 1-1 earlier, finished second. Lester Blanco and Andres Flores also scored for El Salvador, a team coach Mauricio Alfaro pointed out had less than two weeks to prepare for this tournament and didn't have the whole roster together until late. 
 
 "It was just incredible," Alfaro said of the win, speaking through an interpreter. 
 
 But Alfaro also said he had told his players to shoot more in the second half to try to pressure Johnson and the El Salvador coach said he did feel Johnson made a mistake on Alas' kick. 
 
 "The shot didn't have much power," Alfaro said. 
 
 Terrence Boyd scored twice for the U.S., and Johnson replaced keeper Bill Hamid in the 39th minute. 
 
 After a 2-0 loss to Canada in the second of this three-game, round-robin tournament, the Americans needed to win to advance. 
 
 So did El Salvador, and the crowd of 7,889 was about evenly split between the countries keeping the U.S. from a true home-field advantage at LP Field, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans. El Salvador survived a physical game with plenty of yellow cards on each side. 
 
 Boyd went to the sideline with blood on the front of his shirt late in the game. Diskerud said both he and Adu were bitten and showed reporters marks as proof. 
 
 "Part of the game, I guess," Diskerud said. 
 
 The U.S. had a little bit of time left to try and go ahead but couldn't get anything going before the game ended. The result leaves the Americans adding 2012 to 2004 and 1976 as years they failed to qualify for the Olympics, missing out on a 15th appearance overall. 
 
 Boyd got his first start in this round-robin tournament with Juan Agudelo recovering from surgery in New York to fix torn cartilage in his left knee, and Boyd gave the Americans the scoring boost they missed against Canada on Saturday night. The Americans attacked from the start, Boyd scored 61 seconds into the game. Brek Shea dribbled out of three defenders and sent a cross over to Boyd who scored off a left-footed volley. 
 
 And Boyd nearly scored twice more. His header went over the crossbar in the 10th minute, and he had a breakaway chance in the 11th only to see keeper Yimy Cuellar come out to break up the play. 
 
 Hamid rolled covering up a ball and appeared to hurt his ankle midway through the first half. 
 
 El Salvador took advantage by scoring two goals in two minutes to grab the lead and the momentum. Blanco scored on a header off a corner kick over Hamid's hands in the 35th minute, and Flores beat Hamid in the 37th minute off what had been a weak shot by Alas that turned into a cross. Porter pulled Hamid in the 39th minute, putting in 6-4 Johnson for his first appearance in the tournament. 
 
 Boyd tied it up with his second goal off a pass from Adu in the 65th minute. Corona, whose mother is a native of El Salvador, scored off a header just inside the left post off a pass from Adu. 
 
 Johnson smothered one strong kick from Isidro Gutierrez, but couldn't stop the ball when it mattered at the end.
– The short version is easy enough: Trinidad and Tobago upset the US Mens National Team in soccer Tuesday night, and the 2-1 loss means that the Americans won't qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986. But just how bad a loss is this? The defeat is "the most surreal and embarrassing night in US soccer history," writes Grant Wahl for Sports Illustrated. "Unthinkable," declares the New York Times. "With that loss, the USMNT gave a nation the lowest point in its sporting history, and it’s not really close," writes Andrew Joseph for USA Today. "It took 90-plus minutes for United States soccer to regress 30 years," writes Frank Isola at the Daily News. The kicker is that two other games fell the wrong way in unexpected fashion, one on a "phantom goal," sealing the US fate. Honduras rallied from two goals down to beat Mexico, and Panama rallied from one goal back to beat Costa Rica. Had either of those games gone the other way, or had the US even tied Trinidad and Tobago (which had previously been eliminated from qualifying), the Americans would have secured a spot in Russia for the 2018 competition. Of note: Phantom goal: The winning goal scored by Panama against Costa Rica didn't cross the goal line, per CBS Sports, which has video here. The story raises the faint hope that the US could appeal the goal ruling, but it seems unlikely. "As far as I know, there is no recourse," says a US soccer official. Pity Fox Sports: The network paid $200 million, outbidding ESPN, for the rights to televise the 2018 World Cup and showcase teen phenom Christian Pulisic, notes Business Insider. It's now going to be tough for that investment to pay off. Five culprits: Yahoo Sports looks at what went wrong in the US game, and why Bruce Arena has almost certainly coached his last game for the team.