USA's World Cup failure was a catastrophe years in the making

The worst defeat in the history of the US national team is a catastrophe for the sport’s growth in America, but should come as no surprise

The worst defeat in the history of the United States national team, the record will show, played out over an hour and a half on a sweltering weeknight before a few hundred spectators at Ato Boldon Stadium, confines so modest even its namesake questioned why it was chosen for a World Cup qualifier, and ended with the Americans walking off in a soft parade of stunned silence and thousand-yard stares.

But truthfully Tuesday night’s loss to Trinidad & Tobago was a failure years in the making, an outcome undeserving of the surprise it elicited. Not after how the Americans stumbled from the gate in Concacaf’s qualifying hexagonal, prompting the dismissal of Jurgen Klinsmann with a not-insignificant $6.2m golden handshake. Even after a constellation of factors limited the United States to a scant 12 points in the first nine of 10 qualifiers, Bruce Arena’s side needed only a draw against the world’s 99th-ranked team to be virtually certain of securing at least a play-off spot. Instead, a stunningly torpid defeat, paired with Panama’s last-gasp win over Costa Rica, leaves the US out of the World Cup for the first time in 32 years and represents a disastrous setback for the sport’s growth here.

Related: Stubbornness and lack of talent: the factors that doomed USA's World Cup