We Are Not Alone

It has been a month since the USA was eliminated from the World Cup to be held in Russia next summer. At that  time the soccer community mourned the loss of a great chance to further the growth of the sport here in the United States and also the loss of the excitement of competing in the world’s biggest sporting event. There is also the feeling that every decent soccer country on the planet is going to a big party and we are going to be left out while the rest of the world is having a great time. And while nothing can be done about missing the Cup next year, as it turns out we will not be alone in our absence from Russia.

In the last several weeks all qualification tournaments for the World Cup have concluded and rarely has as many consistent world powers and World Cup participants been eliminated from the championship. Perennial powers like Italy and the Netherlands will be missing. Usual participants like Chile and Ghana failed to make the cut. It will seem rather strange to long time fans of the sport to view a World Cup without these nations being represented, while Americans might take some solace in the fact that unexpected defeat is not something unique to us. Lets take a look on what happened to these teams in their failed attempts to qualify for Russia.

EUROPE

The European qualifying tournament had 54 nations participating and were awarded 13 places in Russia. Rather than enduring many preliminary rounds, the European Football Association (UEFA) took advantage of the fact that 54 can be evenly divided by 6. They seeded their countries into 9 groups of 6 teams each. Only the winners of each group were guaranteed a spot in the Cup.. The eight best second place finishers paired off to home and away playoffs with each other and the 4 winners also made it to Russia. The fact that there are far more than 9 strong sides in Europe assured the fact that some excellent teams would be looking at playoffs and that there was a definite possibility there would be some surprise omissions from Europe.

Italy – The Italians hadn’t missed a World Cup since 1958 and have won four of them altogether. Their defensive style always makes them tough to beat in a tournament and they were still blessed with Gigi Buffon in the goal. While aging gracefully at 39 yrs old, Buffon was in the nets when Italy won it all in 2006 and he is still considered one of the worlds best. What the Italians were not blessed with was a kind draw in the elimination. They were put into the same group as Spain and the Spanish are once again looking like the super team they were a few years ago.

Group G results

The Spanish ran away with the group and as good as Italy was, they weren’t as successful as Spain. Nevertheless the playoff was with Sweden and the Italians were confident they would qualify without having to win their group. In Sweden a deflected shot beat Buffon and the Italians lost 1-0. However, the real shock came in the return match in Milan when the Swedes played defense like they were the Italians and kept the home team from scoring. So the Italians miss out for the first time in 60 years and Gigi’s last game for his country did not reflect the successful impact he has had on Italian soccer.

Gigi Buffon cries on the shoulder of a teammate after Italy was eliminated from the World Cup.

Netherlands – The Dutch have been World Cup contenders since the 1970’s and have also been credited for innovating the game to its present standards. They have been a strong presence in virtually every World Cup for the last 45 years despite failing to win one. They have been considered the littlest country with the best players. But in the last few years their results have not reached the levels of past decades and their reputation as the best small country developer of talent has been bequeathed to Belgium ( or maybe Iceland). In the qualifying round they were in the same group as France, which was the favorite and a Sweden team that exceeded expectations. The Dutch had the same number of points as the Swedes but they failed to pour on the goals against the weaker teams in the same manner as Sweden did. As a result they missed out on the playoff round by goal difference. Of course, Sweden went  on to knock Italy out of the Cup.

Netherlands finished 8 goals behind Sweden despite having an equal record.

Other European teams that that failed to qualify but have been in numerous Cups in the past include nations such as Greece, Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. Despite 13 places from their continent,  there are many sad fans in Europe.

SOUTH AMERICA

South America has far fewer nations than Europe, but the region has produced some excellent teams, particularity Brazil and Argentina, having won 7 World Cups between them. But there are other strong teams also and with only 5 possible places the competition was fierce. The qualifying round was played between 10 teams and the top 4 automatically made it while the fifth team participated in a playoff with the Oceania champion. When it was all done most of the favorites were in with one notable exception – Chile.

Chile failed to qualify despite their strong play since the last World Cup.

Chile – Over the last several years Chile has established itself has a team to be feared if they are healthy and motivated. They have a number of world class players and when fired up to play their best they have accomplished much. They won the Copa America tournament which decides the best team in South America in both 2015 and 2016 while last summer they finished runner up to Germany in the Confederations Cup which is considered the warm-up to the World Cup. But in the qualifying round they were neither healthy nor motivated and their results showed it. However, were it not for an appeal the Chileans filed over an illegal player they would have qualified. Chile played to a draw with Bolivia but the Bolivians used a player who did not have the needed residential time in their country. Chile appealed and were awarded a win and the 3 points that go with it instead of the one they got for the draw. But Peru had also played Bolivia when the player in question was used and they had lost. The Peruvians were also awarded 3 points instead of the zero points that a loss earns. So Peru received one more point gained by the appeal than Chile did. Chile had one point from their game with Bolivia but ended up with three while Peru had none from their match with the Bolivians but were given three also. And going into the last game Chile and Peru were vying for the last playoff spot. That should have been enough motivation for the Chileans but they lost 3-0 to a Brazil squad that had nothing to gain having already qualified. Those goals cost Chile the spot as they lost to Peru by 2 in goal difference. In the playoff matches Peru defeated New Zealand to make it to their first World Cup in 36 years.

Peru was plus 1 goal difference while Chile was minus one.

In Africa there were surprises also. World Cup regulars Cameroon and Ghana were eliminated while Senegal and Egypt qualified. Morocco and Tunisia made it while Nigeria might be ready to make a successful run in the senior cup after much success in the younger competitions.

Egypt celebrates it’s last minute qualifying win. This will be their first World Cup since 1990.

While all these upsets might make Americans feel better about the failure of the USA to qualify, when one examines the job required to make it to Russia in these other competitions compared to the needed finish in CONCACAF, well, it’s not so comforting. European teams needed to win a group of six or finish second and win a playoff. South Americans needed to finish fourth out of ten, fifth earned a playoff. But the USA only had to finish third of six or fourth to get a playoff and in a weak region at that. Yet the Americans couldn’t manage the comparatively easy task.

But wait! Perhaps all is not lost in regards to the USA playing against good teams from around the world next summer. No, not the World Cup……that experience is gone….. for this time anyway. One aspect of American sports is inclusion in “big win” events, even if the participants aren’t good enough for the main event. College football has enough bowl games to include most any team that can win as many games as they lose. Professional playoff systems have grown to include more and more teams as the years go by ( example:once the only teams that played in baseball’s post season were the two league winners). And college basketball has a secondary tournament  – the National Invitational Tournament – for teams that missed out on the big prize NCAA tournament. So, with so many quality sides sitting it out next summer…..how about a soccer version of the NIT? We could call it the WIT (World Invitational Tournament) and host it right here in the USA. Imagine an event with Italy, Holland, Chile , Cameroon, Ghana (and the USA, of course). In order to include nations from all over the globe, New Zealand, the Oceania champion, could be invited and perhaps Canada or Honduras or Greece could make it to fill out an eight team tournament. There are certainly enough good teams left over from World Cup qualifying to make for some very interesting matches if the entrants took the tournament seriously and fielded their best teams. Rumor has it that the USSF  is actually looking into such a competition. But even if that hypothetical tournament doesn’t happen, soccer fans from the USA can join fans from so many other nations in watching the World Cup and thinking, “we would have beaten THAT team! ”