The thought I can’t shake is of how the USMNT started this qualifying cycle. Back in November 2015, they beat St. Vincent and the Grenadines 6-1, but the first thing that happened in that game was a somnolent United States, fielding a team of millionaires and coached by a World Cup winner, falling behind after 5 minutes. It’s the kind of thing you write off down the road, when time proves that it’s an aberration. Except this time, it wasn’t.
The mean edge USMNT sides of the past had, that “hard to play against” mentality that is never sexy but is always necessary, wasn’t there then.