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USMNT's throttling of Honduras was nice, but trip to Panama will tell us if Bruce Arena really fixed them
The United States needed a win over Honduras on Friday. Had they lost, it would have been three straight and they would be unlikely to even qualify for the World Cup, which would be an unmitigated disaster.
Well, that wasn't a problem because the U.S. did win, and they won big. The Americans thrashed Honduras, 6-0. They got the three points they needed, they jumped up two spots in the qualifying table and, with their dominance, looked like they were back to their old selves. But that last part is probably a little too premature.
As good as the Americans' win over Honduras was, it was largely what they were supposed to do. They're a much better, more talented team than Honduras. Even after their many injuries, they were playing almost exclusively players who would walk into the Honduran team and start. On top of that, they were at home, where they've lost just one World Cup qualifier in the last 16 years. At no point in more than a decade has a home World Cup qualifier -- except maybe those against Mexico -- been an opportunity to prove anything or make a statement. It was a chance to add three points, which they did habitually, and then move on.
That's what the U.S. did -- added three points.
Now for the moving on part.
The Americans head to Panama with a chance to show they have really turned a corner. There, they can prove that they are a dominant team in the region again and that their embarrassing fall of 2016 was really put behind them with the firing of Jurgen Klinsmann.
It was under the German that they started racking up losses that were unimaginable before, and many of them came away in CONCACAF. The U.S. lost away to Jamaica in the semifinal round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. Then they lost away to Honduras in the Hex. And then in 2018 qualifying, they fell in Guatemala. The Americans had gone from a team that walked into most anywhere in CONCACAF and picked up results to one that made a habit of dropping matches.
Up until Jurgen Klinsmann took over, the USMNT had not lost on the road to a team other than Mexico or Costa Rica in the last three qualifying cycles. They suffered a single loss, in the semifinal round after they already clinched a spot in the Hex, but had otherwise always managed at least a point. Away matches may be tough, but the U.S. could go anywhere in CONCACAF besides Mexico or Costa Rica, and at least manage a draw.
And it was that, their ability to always get results away, or even win, that made the Americans truly dominant. They won at home, going 15 years without a single qualifying loss on American soil, but lots of teams win at home. Picking up result after result away is what only the best teams in the region could do, and it's what the U.S. could no longer do.
That's not to make light of how tough it is to win away in CONCACAF. Going from the friendly American confines that provide the U.S. with three points nearly every time, to bumpy pitches, raucous crowds, questionable refereeing and matches that generally look more like rugby than soccer on the road is a completely different world. Even against teams that the Americans are more talented than, they've needed some late dramatics to win away. Whether it was Brian Ching's last minute equalizer at Jamaica in 2004, Conor Casey's brace to beat Honduras in 2009 or Graham Zusi and Aron Johannsson's shocking stoppage time goals in Panama four years ago, it's a struggle when you go on the road in CONCACAF.
It's really difficult to overstate the difference in playing at home and away in World Cup qualifying, but that's also what separates CONCACAF's decent teams from their great ones. Only the region's best teams can regularly get results away, but that is what the U.S. used to be.
If you really wanted a measure of how good the Americans were, it wasn't what they did at home. After all most teams win at home. It was that they could go away and rack up results. But that wasn't the case under Klinsmann.
Now Klinsmann is gone and Bruce Arena was hired to get the U.S. back to what they used to be. To make them one of the best teams in CONCACAF again, and simply winning at home doesn't make them that. Not even winning 6-0. It's winning away that does it.
All those good things that the U.S. flashed against Honduras need to be on display in Panama. The calm in the midfield and speed with which they recovered the ball. The constant pressure, slick passing and ability to drag defenders around. The strength in the air and aggressiveness from start to finish.
If the U.S. can play like they did against Honduras, but this time away to Panama, they won't win 6-0. That simply doesn't happen away in CONCACAF, but it would get them a draw at the least. It should even get them a win, even if takes a little luck too. And with a win, they would be into third place in qualifying, the final spot that automatically puts them in the World Cup. All would be well again, on the field and in qualifying.
Beating Honduras was nice, but it wasn't anything special. It wasn't a return to glory, at least not on its own. But if the Americans can combine it with a result in Panama-- especially a win -- then they will be able to really put the struggles of the last couple years behind them. They'll be a CONCACAF power again. The USMNT will be back.
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