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2014 World Cup Qualifying: United States in Real Danger After Loss to Honduras
Published: February 7, 2013
The United States dropped the opening match of CONCACAF's hexagonal World Cup qualifying round to Honduras. It's only one match out of 10 that will be played by October, but make no mistake, the Americans are already in danger.
Sure, we can break out the excuse machine and blame the loss on the tough playing conditions, a lack of chemistry, the absence of Landon Donovan or simply starting the round with a tough road match. The fact remains the United States left Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano without a point.
From a mental standpoint, it's not the way any country wants to begin its final push toward Brazil in 2014, and it adds a lot more pressure moving forward. But the real story is in the numbers, as passed along by Paul Carr and Albert Larcada of ESPN.
According to ESPN's Soccer Power Index, the loss dropped the United States' qualifying chances from 61.6 percent to 52.7 percent. While the Americans were not favored to win the match by SPI, they were expected to pick up at least a draw in nearly half of simulations.
In other words, the United States' chances of qualifying are nearly the same as the flip of a coin at this point. For a country that has participated in every World Cup since 1990 and is, along with Mexico, viewed as a CONCACAF power, it's a surprising number.
By the end of Wednesday, the United States was all alone in last place. Draws in the other two matches meant every other country had at least one point from its first match of the round.
Furthermore, the way the Americans lost wasn't encouraging. Clint Dempsey scored with less than 10 minutes until halftime and they couldn't even carry the lead into the locker room. Juan Carlos Garcia scored a mere four minutes later.
Still, at the half they were in line to pick up a point on the road, which would have been an acceptable result. But the team that showed up in the second half certainly didn't lo...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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