What last night meant for Honduras and the United States

The U.S. played to a 1-1 draw last night in Boca Raton in front of an underwhelming crowd.   While little can be taken from a friendly which is many fortnights away from from a truly meaningful match, we did learn a few things from this game.

What this meant game meant for Honduras:  For Honduras the draw gives Coach Hernan Medford additional time to shape and mold the National Team as he sees fit.  Being head coach of the Honduran National Team is a difficult role.  You live in a third world nation with scarce resources, a limited but skilled pool of players, a fanbase that is quick to criticize and that has unrealistic expectations.  Honduran soccer fans are assholes.  Plain and simple.  They are impatient with the manager, quick to throw their own players under the bus and at many times exhibit behavior that cannot be described as anything other than self loathing.  Hondurans are stubborn and fail to have perspective on where we stand and who we are as a footballing nation.  In the aftermath of a disappointing World Cup campaign, Medford has led Honduras to a series of underwhelming results including a fifth place finish at the Central American Cup back in early September which for soccer mad Honduras is unacceptable.  This draw saved Medfords job if only for a few more months. While Honduras does have young talented players like Andy Najar and Luis Garrido, it is quite evident they will still rely heavily on the experience of Maynor Figueroa, Emilio Izaguirre, Boniek Garcia and even Victor Bernardez for the next World Cup qualifying cycle. All of these players will be well into their 30's come qualifying in 2017 but frankly they do not have better options. Last night was a chalk vintage performance for Honduras.  The 'Catrachos' are tough in the back, weak at center of the midfield but fast and quite capable at the wings.  Honduras kryptonite continues to be a lack of forwards and its susceptibility to bad mental lapses like Bernardez inexcusable positioning that led to the goal.  

What this game meant for the United States:  The U.S. has a lot of young talent. We are just beginning the 2018 World Cup cycle but at this point it is literally anyone's guess what this team will look like.  I firmly believe no American player is assured a roster spot for 2018.  Even players like Yedlin, Diskerud and Green still need to continuously prove their form to assure a roster spot.  Yesterday's game reiterated that opinion for me.   The U.S. was clearly a more talented team than Honduras, however they performed in lackluster manner.  Outside of an aging Jermaine Jones and a spirited performance by Mix Diskerud, no players stood out for the U.S.  Altidore's goal while clinical was more a consequence of Victor Bernardez bad positioning and timing.  Those that will succeed and make the team for the U.S. come the next round of World Cup Qualifying are those players that can  make the transition to Klinsmann's vision of a team that control the ball and maintain possession.  This World Cup confirmed what Jurgen already knew a long time ago and that is the U.S. must get better at maintaining possession and controlling the pace of the game over long periods of time on the pitch.  The U.S. frankly were lucky to get out of the group stage at the last World Cup.  Klinsmann knows there is plenty of room for improvement.  Last night was not a step in the right direction.