Where Do We Go From Here?

An unmitigated disaster.  A total shock.  An epic failure.  An extreme disappointment.  A complete embarrassment.  Those are just some of the adjectives (the nicest ones) to describe the U.S. Men's National Team's previously unfathomable inability to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.  And they're all deserved.  Because the U.S. not qualifying for the World Cup isn't just unthinkable.  It's something that simply shouldn't happen.  Period.

Every word that Taylor Twellman said in his epic rant (if you didn't see it, YouTube it, it's amazing) was 100 percent true.  Iceland, a nation of 350,000 people, will be in the World Cup.  The United States, a nation of 325 million, will not.  Iceland came out of Europe, the toughest continental qualifying.  The United States is a member of CONCACAF, which, other than Mexico and Costa Rica, isn't exactly full of world beaters.

The USA needed just a tie--a tie--against Trinidad & Tobago, the 99th-ranked team in the world.  And they couldn't get it.  Make whatever excuses you want (it was a rain-soaked field, there were bad calls, etc.).  They know that this is on them.  The players will be the first ones to admit it.    They're not sugar-coating anything.  They know they should be in the World Cup.  They know that they're better than the fifth-best team in CONCACAF.  And they know that this "result" is completely unacceptable.

So, now the question becomes "Where do we go from here?"  And that really is the million dollar question.  Because the last time the U.S. missed the World Cup was 1986, when America didn't care about the sport, the "national team" was made up of college kids and received virtually no funding.  But in 2017, with the money that is invested, the national team full of professionals, and a thriving domestic pro league (say all you want about the "quality" of play in MLS compared to other nations, that's not the point I'm making here). 

That's not even to mention the competition the U.S. goes against in its region, which, again, isn't exactly a who's who of world soccer powers.  Getting out of CONCACAF should be taken for granted.  Especially when only two teams are eliminated at the end of the Hex.  But, as this underwhelming group showed us, you can't take anything for granted.  When you do, this is what happens.

And you can't blame Juergen Klinsmann.  He was jettisoned after the disastrous start to this qualifying cycle.  Which was the right decision.  Someone had to take the fall and the U.S. Men's National Team badly needed a change.  Well, guess who needs a change even more now?  Bruce Arena, who replaced Klinsmann, is as good as gone.  The head coach is always the first one to go.  But he won't be the only one.  He can't be.

This should also be the last we see of Tim Dempsey and Michael Bradley and, yes, even Clint Dempsey in National Team colors.  They were a part of the greatest generation in U.S. soccer history.  But they were also on the field for Tuesday's disaster.  And they're not getting any younger, either.  This is Christian Pulisic's team going forward.  You need to put some more young blood around him as you move past this and set the sights on Qatar 2022.

Except the problem with that plan is the young blood simply isn't as good as Dempsey, Bradley and Co.  The U.S. hasn't qualified for the last two Olympics, either, which is a failure of the under-23 team.  And the under-23 team is supposed to feature the players next in line to join the senior national team or, in some cases, are already on it.  So, the players on the senior national team will be senior citizens themselves soon (although, in fairness, Tim Howard is just three years older than me) and the players on the under-23 team aren't good enough.  It creates quite a catch-22.

Most of the criticism for this plight has been directed towards the U.S. player development system, which is equally justified.  Although, there is some hope.  The United States has reached the quarterfinals in each of the last two Under-20 World Cups.

It really is mind-boggling to think that the U.S. has qualified for a grand total of one major tournament since the 2010 World Cup. Should the U.S. come up short in qualifying for the 2020 Olympics and miss out on the 2021 Confederations Cup, that streak will extend to one major tournament appearance in 10 years (that's assuming, of course, they actually manage to qualify for Qatar 2022).

With the 2026 World Cup pretty much guaranteed to be held primarily in the United States (hey, they won't have to qualify for that one!), the time is now to get it fixed.  The U.S Men's National Team has nine years to figure it out.  That's plenty of time for Christian Pulisic and the next generation of the U.S. Men's National Team to put on a good showing on home soil and make us forget about this disaster.

Although, we never will forget about it.  And we never should.  No one should.  This is one of the darkest moments in the history of U.S. Soccer.  It's something that can never happen again (especially with the World Cup expanding and CONCACAF getting six spots moving forward).  The powers that be need to make sure it doesn't.