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Discontent with Klinsmann at all-time high following US loss to Guatemala

By on March 25, 2016

This year alone, Jurgen Klinsmann has had a month-long January training camp and two international friendlies to prepare for a seemingly routine World Cup Qualifying match with Guatemala, a team ranked two places behind Faroe Islands in FIFA’s World Rankings.  Much coverage has been paid to their goalkeeping situation, but that appeared the least of their worries in a disastrous 2-0 away loss to Guatemala, their first defeat to the Central American nation since 1988.

Their problems began at the back and Klinsmann’s experimental back-line were twice caught napping during set-pieces to give Guatemala a chance to secure the win.  Worse, their midfield never really was there and the front-line was flat and uninspiring.  None of Klinsmann’s substitutes managed to make an significant impact, and this result will undoubtedly go down as one of the lowlights of Klinsmann’s managerial career.  Their was plenty of blame to spread around.

The United State’s last lost against a team currently lower in FIFA World’s Rankings dates back forty-five years to 1980 in a 4-2 loss to Suriname.  Whatever the merits of that statistic, it clearly highlights the magnitude of this loss.

This was supposed to be the United States’ chance to close out World Cup Qualifying and shift their focus towards the Copa American Centenario.  Instead, it leaves them in a dogfight to qualify for the World Cup in desperate need of a win in the return leg early next week with a wholly unconvincing 1-1-1 record.  They’re in third place in their semifinal round qualifying group, behind Trinidad & Tobago and Guatemala.

Walter Claveri’s Guatemala side caught out the United States early on with high pressing and a smash-and-grab early goal when Rafael Morales headed home a corner kick in the seventh minute.  The US back-line had a cacophony of mistakes leading up the goal, from Edgar Castillo’s poor back-pass that led to the corner kick, Mix Diskerud’s poor marking and Tim Howard’s labored reaction.

Guatemala doubled their lead just ten minutes later as thirty-six-year-old veteran Carlos Ruiz ran onto an powerful goal-kick delivered straight through the U.S. defensive line to coolly convert past Howard.

Paulo Motta made a string of saves to keep the United States off the board, but it was the home side who came closest to scoring, a curling effort glancing off the crossbar early in the second half.

Klinsmann threw on Darlington Nagbe at halftime and brought on Gyasi Zardes for Michael Orozco and Jozy Altidore for Omar Gonzalez, but without much creativity in the midfield, the US simply began to bomb the ball forward without much reason or rhyme.

“There were too many mistakes, especially in the first half hour,” said Klinsmann. “At the international level…that simply cannot happen.  We had enough chances to win this game, but we couldn’t put it in.”

Altidore had a golden opportunity in the eighty-second minute down the right side of the box, but Motta denied the Toronto FC forward with a brilliant foot-save.  For all of their months’ worth of preparation (only now has it become apparent why Klinsmann has experimented so much), the United States couldn’t find the back of the net and now only have four days to recover before their crucial return leg.

Homepage photo credit: Steindy (talk) 21:31, 22 November 2013 (UTC) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.