Former United States defender Alexi Lalas has revealed that the failure of the country to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Russia will have its repercussions.
The United States will be missing at the World Cup for the first time in 32 years after a shock 2-1 defeat to bottom side Trinidad and Tobago ended their hopes.
Speaking on the failure, the 47-year old said:
“It is not a good look or feeling. It will have repercussions.”
“They let themselves down, they let us down and they will have to think about that for a very long time.” he added.
Head coach Arena had earlier taken responsibility for the surprising defeat but said that “there’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing”.
“To make any kind of crazy changes I think would be foolish. We’re building a good system in our professional league. We have players playing abroad of some quality,” he stated further.
Donna E. Shalala, one of the 17 directors of governing body US Soccer, also weighed in by calling the failure “unacceptable” adding that it is “time for a revolution”.
Speaking further, Lalas, who scored 9 goals in 96 appearances for the US, said the team will come back stronger. He said:
“Whether it is over-confidence or hubris, this is a team that did not play as a team enough, at times they showed sparks, but the faltered too often and did not gain any sustained momentum.”
“The United States soccer community will be shaken to its foundations – this will have repercussions on the field and off the field.
“But we will take our lumps, learn, dust ourselves off and come back strong having learned painful, but hopefully valuable, lessons in who we are and who we aren’t.” he concluded.
