The playing field was far from level, but at least it was grassy, as the US took a break from ongoing controversies over their goalkeeper and artificial turf in next summer’s women’s World Cup to take a stuttering step towards the tournament on Wednesday night.
After they arrived at training camp in Dallas last week with only $500 to cover their expenses and their head coach issued a desperate Twitter plea for help that drew a swift and generous international response, this was almost another heartwarming experience for Trinidad & Tobago.
Randy Waldrum’s amateurs put up admirable resistance in the face of daunting odds before succumbing in the second half to the game’s only goal.
“I’ve had this group probably a month, two of the players that started for us tonight I saw for the first time two or three days ago. I’m extremely proud of the way the team played tonight … most of these young ladies didn’t start playing football till they were 12 or 13 years old because there’s not anything organised for them at a younger age,” said Waldrum, a Texan.
“I could spend all night talking to you about the things that we don’t have but the one thing we do have is we’ve got a competitive, resilient group of players that just believe.”
Given the US’s habitual dominance in World Cup qualifying, this was a stilted performance from Jill Ellis’s side and a meagre scoreline. But Abby Wambach’s header made it merely an underwhelming night rather than a humiliating one.
“Today was about execution, period. Every single player, all of us in the dressing room we’re embarrassed because that’s not the way we want to play soccer, that’s not our style, that’s not the soccer we want to play. But the reality is sometimes you’re going to play teams that are going to bunker in,” Wambach said.
This was both nations’ first group game in the Concacaf Women’s Championship, the 12-day pathway to the World Cup that is routinely serene for the US. Canada qualify automatically as hosts which has excised perhaps the only team in the region capable of challenging the Americans.
The battle looks to be less daunting on the field than in the courtroom. Wambach is one of several leading players who filed a lawsuit in Canada earlier this month alleging gender discrimination because 2015’s World Cup is to be played on artificial turf yet the men’s version always takes place on grass.
Goalkeeper Hope Solo’s continued presence in the line-up despite awaiting an assault trial – she has pleaded not guilty – brought the team some unwanted mainstream media attention in the wake of several NFL players being benched after domestic violence incidents.
Solo was the least conspicuous player on the field in the first half, as T&T did not muster a shot until the 41st minute on the smooth natural surface at the home of Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City. But nor did the US find the net. Again and again they were repelled by stubborn defending and T&T’s heroic goalkeeper, Kimika Forbes, a university student in Maine, who played on after hurting her back shortly before half-time as she collided with a post in an effort to repel a Megan Rapinoe shot that banged off the bar.
“She’s special,” Waldrum said. “I can’t even describe it in words how many times she came up big for us.” The number Waldrum was searching for was at least 10.
The level of US frustration was evident at half time when several players engaged in heated discussions before exiting the field. This was supposed to be a breeze: the US entered having won all seven previous matches against Trinidad & Tobago, including three victories by double figures. According to FOX Soccer, in 55 qualifying matches the US had scored 312 goals and conceded only 13.
The US won four of its five previous World Cup qualifying tournaments without enduring a single shut-out, but the memory of their only loss still stings. Mexico beat them 2-1 in the semi-finals in 2010, a high-voltage shock that forced the Americans to defeat Costa Rica in a third-place match then overcome Italy in a two-legged play-off to reach the 2011 World Cup, where they finished second. Despite a hat-trick of successive Olympic gold medals, they last lifted the World Cup in 1999.
While the American presence coats this tournament’s outcome with a thick layer of inevitability, there is still much at stake for the remaining teams – bar Martinique, who are not Fifa members and so are ineligible to qualify for 2015.
The top two nations from each group advance to semi-finals and a final played near Philadelphia on 26 October, with the finalists and winners of the third-place match qualifying automatically for the World Cup and the fourth-placed side facing Ecuador in a two-legged play-off for the right to join them. The US next play Guatemala near Chicago on Friday, who lost 1-0 to Haiti in the day’s other Group A game.
T&T, a good bet to reach Canada on this evidence, made few forays but intelligently aimed to launch swift counter-attacks using space on the flanks that opened up when their opponents surged forward. With a little more composure they might have scored. Kennya Cordner had a good sight of goal on the hour but her shot zipped wide. Then she delayed her shot too long after 73 minutes when she looked set to give Solo a serious test, and lashed an attempt over with five minutes to go.
The US pressed early in the second half and Wambach found herself clean through after 52 minutes only for the onrushing Forbes to save her dinked attempt and Rapinoe to inexplicably blast over the bar on the rebound. That might have stoked American anxieties – but the goal finally arrived two minutes later, Wambach heading in Alex Morgan’s left-wing cross for her 171st international goal.
Surprisingly, no more followed, and if Cordner had enjoyed a sharper night in front of goal, T&T might have earned a point as well as plaudits.
