Sebastian Soto’s sloppy draw cost the United States a 1-0 loss to Mexico.
Now comes the winner’s semifinal takes it all Sunday night against Honduras or Canada for a trip to the men’s Olympic football tournament.
“In the end, it is difficult to lose the game through an individual mistake,” said US coach Jason Kreis after Soto gave Uriel Antuna a 45-minute goal in Guadalajara on Wednesday night. “The most important game is coming, so we need to move very quickly and prepare for it.”
Both the United States and Mexico were guaranteed to advance from Group A places to the semifinals. The USA finished Group A in second place, 2-1, and play against Honduras, unless Canada beat Catrachos in the Group B final, which also includes El Salvador and Haiti.
Mexico, 2012 Olympic champion, won their 14th consecutive qualifying round for the Olympics in 2008 and finished first in Group A with 3-0.
The winners of the semifinals in the North American, Central and Caribbean region win the last two places in the 16-nation field for the Olympics, which will be played from July 21 to August 7 in Tokyo, Kashima, Miyagi, Saitama, Sapporo and Yokohama.
“We wanted to win the game to be in the lead of our group,” said American defender Mauricio Pineda. “We fell short of that, but we are still in the semifinal and I think we will have to turn the page quickly.”
Antuna, a 23-year-old Chivas winger who spent 2019 on loan at the LA Galaxy from Manchester City, picked up a lost ball about 35 meters from the goal that Soto missed in a backward pass after a Henry Kessler feed. Antuna gave several touches to keep the space of Kessler and Pineda while cutting to the edge of the arc, then defeated goalkeeper David Ochoa with a right foot kick for his second goal in the tournament.
“It is a game of small details and everything is fine, and against the best teams you will be punished if you make the smallest mistake,” said Pineda. “So, today we were punished for that, and I think we have to start punishing the teams on the other side of the field as well.”
Kreis blamed Soto’s decision making.
“In the end the goal came from the press: an attacker who fell and instead of controlling the ball and giving two touches,” said the coach. “He had all kinds of weather. He tried to make a first pass and was intercepted. “
American men failed to qualify for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, a trend followed by the failure of the senior national team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
Clubs do not need to release players for Olympic qualification or the Olympics, denying the majority of the best known players on the tournament teams
Because of the delay caused by the new coronavirus pandemic, FIFA maintained eligibility for players born on or after January 1, 2007. Each Olympic team can use three wildcard players above the age limit.
Kreis made six changes in his starting line-up for the second straight game, giving Kessler in central defense and Soto in the striker the first starts and reinserting Ochoa, the winger Andres Herrera and midfielders Hassani Dotson and Djordje Mihailovic, who started to opening 1-0 beat Costa Rica.
Defender Julian Araujo, Pineda in the center of defense and midfielders Andrés Perea, Johnny Cardoso and Sebastian Saucedo also started the 4-0 victory over the Dominican Republic.
Kreis made a triple substitution in the 61st minute, inserting Jackson Yueill, Jonathan Lewis and Jesús Ferreira, who was carrying a yellow card in the debut. Taylor Tessman came in 76th for Dotson, who appeared to be turning his left ankle. Dotson scored twice against the Dominicans.
“We saw really bright spots,” said Kreis. “I think we also saw spots where we were like, wow, these guys are still rusty and making mistakes that you don’t normally see them making in passes and moves.”