This is not how Olympic qualifying was supposed to go. Not this time.
The 2012 CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament ended in ignominy when coach Caleb Porter’s group failed to progress beyond the group stage. After the result, USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann said that an entire Four years and an objectively more talented roster later, American hopes at the tournament were considerably higher.
And why shouldn’t they have been? For any U.S. team at any level, progressing beyond CONCACAF qualifying isn’t a negotiable. Yes, the region is slowly improving and gathering depth, but there’s never an excuse for a failure of this magnitude. Never.
The current crop of U.S. U23s haven’t failed yet. But they’re on a perilous brink.
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