Why the United States Men’s Soccer Team Should Have Qualified for the Fifa World Cup: an Opinion Piece
October 17, 2017
The group for the United States qualifiers this year contained the following teams: Mexico, Costa Rica, Panamá, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, and of course, the United States. Before I get into the controversial events that took place in the final matches of the qualifiers, let’s take a look at the final table to see just how close the United States were to qualifying for the Fifa World Cup.
*The one’s in bold are the qualifying teams*
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
| Mexico | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 21 |
| Costa Rica | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 16 |
| Panama | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 13 |
| Honduras | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 19 | -6 | 13 |
| United States | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 12 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 19 | -12 | 6 |
P: Games Played W: Wins D: Draws L: Losses
F: Goals For A: Goals Against GD: Goal Difference PTS: Points
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the logistics of soccer, the team with the highest amount of points after one home and one away game against each team in the group wins the group. If any team is tied on points than the team with the highest goal difference wins. Goal difference is the amount of goals scored in all of the games subtracted by the amount of all the goals scored on a team. A team earns three points from a win, one point from a draw, and zero points for a loss.
I personally believe that if the officiating was better in the final day of matches, that the United States would be in a qualifying position in the Fifa World Cup.
First I would like to show you a goal that gave Panama a 2-1 win over Costa Rica which if this one goal were disallowed, the United States would have qualified due to a much higher goal difference and having a point more than Panama. Keep in mind that in the game of soccer, the ball must be 100% over the line to be considered a goal.
Secondly, Honduras scored a highly controversial goal against Mexico in their 3-2 win. If just this one goal was disallowed, the United States would have qualified via points and goal difference for the 2018 Fifa World Cup. Watch for how the Panamanian striker viciously fouled the defender in his own box to win the ball back to set up the goal.
If both of these controversial moments were correctly officiated, than both Panama and Honduras would have came up with earning a point a piece rather than the full three points. The table would have ended up looking like the one below.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
| Mexico | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 21 |
| Costa Rica | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 16 |
| United States | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 12 |
| Panama | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 11 |
| Honduras | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 19 | -7 | 11 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 19 | -12 | 6 |