COUVA, Trinidad and Tobago — On the most surreal and embarrassing night in U.S. soccer history, the U.S. men’s national team lost 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago (the worst team in the CONCACAF Hexagonal) and was eliminated from contention for World Cup 2018. 
 
 The doomsday scenario happened. 
 
 All the U.S. needed to do to qualify for the World Cup was to win or tie. And they lost, a deserving defeat that ended a miserable qualifying campaign—three wins in 10 Hexagonal games—and will raise enormous questions about the overall direction of the U.S. Soccer Federation, the players and coach Bruce Arena. The U.S. loss opened the door to Panama and Honduras, which both needed to win to ensure the U.S. elimination, which was exactly what happened. Honduras rallied from two deficits to beat Mexico in San Pedro Sula, while Panama rode a controversial Blas Perez opener and a Roman Torres late winner to beat Costa Rica in Panama City. 
 
 Here are three thoughts on the USA's ouster: 
 
 The U.S. should be utterly embarrassed 
 
 On a night when Arena’s team had control of its own destiny, the Americans had one of the most infamous belly-flops in U.S. soccer history, losing to the already-eliminated Trinis with everything on the line for the United States. 
 
 In a pitiful first-half performance, the U.S. lacked urgency and went through the motions while the hosts looked like the ones who had a chance to qualify for the World Cup. Trinidad and Tobago took a 2-0 halftime lead on an own-goal by Omar Gonzalez and a golazo from distance by Alvin Jones, and the U.S. response was tepid at best. This was a team with players acting like they thought they had already qualified for the World Cup, and it showed. 
 
 Only one U.S. player had a decent game 
 
 Christian Pulisic pulled one back for the Americans early in the second half with a laser from outside the box. Pulisic was largely bottled up otherwise, but at least he had one dazzling moment. His teammates could hardly say the same. Forwards Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood were nonexistent. Wings Darlington Nagbe and Paul Arriola were invisible. Goalkeeper Tim Howard could have been in better position on both goals. And Gonzalez showed with his own-goal and what should have been called a penalty soon thereafter that he was a poor choice by Arena to be on the field, especially with Premier League starter Geoff Cameron on the bench. 
 
 Tear it all down 
 
 The far-reaching impacts of this colossal failure will be felt for a long time, not just by the figures on the field on Tuesday but also by the millions and millions of dollars lost by any number of stakeholders in the sport in the United States. The men’s World Cup only comes around once every four years, and the missed opportunity to create millions of new soccer fans in the U.S. is a crushing blow. Missing the World Cup won’t cripple the sport in the U.S., but it will be a huge step back for a sport that had been on the rise for a long time. ||||| On the final day of World Cup qualification Tuesday, Argentina needed a win in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, to advance to Russia. With everything to lose and a soccer mad country on pins and needles, the legendary Lionel Messi recorded a hat trick and Argentina was safe. 
 
 It’s crazy to compare Argentina to the United States because one country has the history and youth system to remain an international force. And we certainly don’t have and perhaps never will have a player on the level of Messi. 
 
 But the mission and the pressure were the same. And all Bruce Arena’s team had to do was earn a tie against tiny Trinidad and Tobago to keep the USA’s World Cup dream alive. 
 
 And we failed. 
 
 Spectacularly. 
 
 A shocking 2-1 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago, the worst team in the final round of CONCACAF regional qualifying and already eliminated, means no 2018 World Cup for the Red, White and Blue next summer. No trip to Russia. No grand stage for Christian Pulisic. And no luck for Fox Sports, which paid a fortune for the television rights. 
 
 It took 90-plus minutes for United States soccer to regress 30 years. 
 
 “It’s a blemish for us,” U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. “We should not be staying home for the World Cup.” 
 
 The U.S. finished fifth in the group. CONCACAF sends three teams automatically to the World Cup: Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama. The fourth, Honduras, heads to a playoff against an Asian confederation team, Australia. 
 
 It took 90-plus minutes for United States soccer to regress 30 years. (Ashley Allen/Getty Images) 
 
 The political backdrop was impossible to ignore. Mexico gave up an 88th minute goal and lost, 3-2, to Honduras. A Mexico draw would have moved the U.S. into fourth place and a playoff with Australia. The United States needed help from Mexico. Imagine that. We didn’t get it. 
 
 But really, the United States has only itself to blame. A tie would have secured third place and spot in Russia. It wasn’t asking much. 
 
 “We had everything there for us today,” Arena said. “No excuses for us not getting a second goal and at least a point.” 
 
 The U.S. was poor throughout qualifying. Jurgen Klinsmann was fired as coach 11 months ago after losing at home to Mexico and getting embarrassed, 4-0, in a loss at Costa Rica over a four-day stretch. Arena, who led the U.S. to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup, was installed as head coach. But a home loss to Costa Rica, followed by a draw against Honduras, put the team in the danger zone. 
 
 The U.S. last missed the World Cup in 1986. It clinched a berth in 1990 by winning at Trinidad and Tobago on the last day of qualification. That watershed victory sparked a growth for soccer in this country. Youth participation exploded, Major League Soccer started in 1996 and the popularity of the sport grew. 
 
 Even our player development improved. The best example is Pulisic, the 19-year-old budding star who scored the lone goal after the U.S. had fallen behind, 2-0, in the first half. 
 
 But we didn’t have enough players to replace some of our aging stars. Tim Howard, a world class goalie five years ago, simply doesn’t have it anymore. Clint Dempsey is no longer capable of playing 90 minutes. Michael Bradley has lost a step. 
 
 And our center back play was abysmal. Poor Omar Gonzalez, burned last month for Honduras’ goal, had his attempted clearance sail over Howard and into the net for an own goal. 
 
 The U.S. last missed the World Cup in 1986. (Ashley Allen/Getty Images) 
 
 “It’s one that will haunt me forever,” Gonzalez said. 
 
 The fallout from this will be epic. Heads will roll. Arena is done. Sunil Gulati, the president of the United States Soccer Federation, could be in trouble. 
 
 Maybe the United States needed a major setback to move forward. Good teams, even great teams, have missed the World Cup. England and France didn’t qualify in 1994. The Netherlands is out of the 2018 World Cup. Italy has to win a playoff to get in. 
 
 But it’s also much tougher to qualify in Europe. Same with South America. The United States has a geographic advantage, especially with the financial resources and population. 
 
 The players are here. We just haven’t discovered enough of them. And we haven’t developed enough of them. 
 
 It’s time for a reboot. 
 
 And now we have until 2022 to get it right. ||||| It’s been 31 years since May 31, 1986 — the last World Cup that didn’t feature the United States. That’s 11,456 days of progress for a sport that’s come so far in a country that still hasn’t fully embraced it. 
 
 All of that gone. 
 
 With U.S. soccer’s dreadful 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago on the final day of CONCACAF’s qualifying hexagonal for the 2018 World Cup, next summer’s tournament will not feature the USMNT. No Christian Pulisic. No Tim Howard. No Michael Bradley. With that loss, the USMNT gave a nation the lowest point in its sporting history, and it’s not really close. 
 
 CONCACAF is a grind, but compared to the other qualifying regions, the 3.5 World Cup spots out of six teams mean that the United States should be a lock to qualify. When it beat Panama, 4-0, on Friday, the U.S. put itself in position to escape a lackluster qualifying round with a spot in the tournament. All it really needed to do was take care of business at lowly Trinidad and Tobago. 
 
 They couldn’t even do that. With no sense of urgency, USMNT players and coaches had to watch as their CONCACAF counterparts did them no favors. Four years after the USMNT saved Mexico’s World Cup dreams, El Tri instead blew a lead to Honduras and helped seal the USMNT’s fate. Costa Rica also blew a lead to Panama on a goal that shouldn’t have counted and gave up a late winner as the U.S. decided to score-watch rather than take matters into its own hands. A mostly empty stadium in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago, felt even emptier on this night. 
 
 It’s really difficult to quantify how bad this loss was for U.S. Soccer. Sunil Gulati and Bruce Arena should both be gone. Tim Howard, whose last World Cup appearance was a legendary performance, will likely leave U.S. Soccer with the lasting image of his worst performance with the national team. As bad as things got for the USMNT, the possibility of missing the World Cup didn’t actually seem real. It’s that arrogance that likely brought the team to where it is right now — out of the World Cup. When U.S. soccer legend Alexi Lalas called out the USMNT, its biggest star, Pulisic, laughed off the attempted gut-check rant. 
 
 But when it comes down to it, though, the sport of soccer in the U.S. is going to feel the lasting effects the most. Every World Cup is an opportunity to grow the sport on the biggest stage. 
 
 Even the growth from 2010, to 2014, to now has been tremendous. A nation went crazy when Landon Donovan sent the USMNT into the Round of 16 with his late winner in 2010 (a loss would have meant an early trip home). A nation went crazy when John Brooks put the U.S. ahead against Ghana in 2014, as he ran around not fully processing what he had done. 
 
 Those moments forge memories and make lifelong fans of the sport. It creates momentum that makes it possible for an MLS team to draw 71,000 fans for a regular season match. Those moments inspire a young fan to kick around a soccer ball rather than throw a football. Those moments make it possible for a 19-year-old wonderkid to break through into the next level of international stardom. 
 
 That’s not happening anymore. It’s five years — at best — of the USMNT out of the forefront of American sports. All because U.S. soccer let 95 minutes of arrogance erase 31 years of progress. 
 
 And that is truly a shame.
– The short version is easy enough: Trinidad and Tobago upset the US Mens National Team in soccer Tuesday night, and the 2-1 loss means that the Americans won't qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986. But just how bad a loss is this? The defeat is "the most surreal and embarrassing night in US soccer history," writes Grant Wahl for Sports Illustrated. "Unthinkable," declares the New York Times. "With that loss, the USMNT gave a nation the lowest point in its sporting history, and it’s not really close," writes Andrew Joseph for USA Today. "It took 90-plus minutes for United States soccer to regress 30 years," writes Frank Isola at the Daily News. The kicker is that two other games fell the wrong way in unexpected fashion, one on a "phantom goal," sealing the US fate. Honduras rallied from two goals down to beat Mexico, and Panama rallied from one goal back to beat Costa Rica. Had either of those games gone the other way, or had the US even tied Trinidad and Tobago (which had previously been eliminated from qualifying), the Americans would have secured a spot in Russia for the 2018 competition. Of note: Phantom goal: The winning goal scored by Panama against Costa Rica didn't cross the goal line, per CBS Sports, which has video here. The story raises the faint hope that the US could appeal the goal ruling, but it seems unlikely. "As far as I know, there is no recourse," says a US soccer official. Pity Fox Sports: The network paid $200 million, outbidding ESPN, for the rights to televise the 2018 World Cup and showcase teen phenom Christian Pulisic, notes Business Insider. It's now going to be tough for that investment to pay off. Five culprits: Yahoo Sports looks at what went wrong in the US game, and why Bruce Arena has almost certainly coached his last game for the team.