Yankee go home

Trinidad and who?

Trinidad and Tobago, and there goes U.S. men's soccer, slinking right back to 1986. In case you missed it in all the furor over the NFL knuckling under to the false-flag-flying creature in the White House, the U.S. men lost to T&T in the World Cup qualifying last night, 2-1. T&T had diddly-boo to play for, and was a vastly inferior side to boot. Yet it beat a listless U.S. side that had everything to play for.

As a result, the U.S. men will not be playing in the World Cup for the first time since 1986 -- when, presumably, U.S. men's soccer was light years less advanced than it is today.

Well. Apparently not.

Despite a handful of talented up-and-comers -- including 20-year-old Christian Pulisic, who could wind up being the first Ronaldo-level American superstar --  American soccer on the male side is right back where it was 31 years ago. And that says nothing good whatsoever about its leadership from head coach Bruce Arena on down.

Too harsh?

Perhaps. But how is it men's soccer in America continues to tread water (or, in this case, drown) while women's soccer has been one of the premier sides in the world for 20-some years?

To be sure, the women have some advantages. Basketball and football don't vacuum up a lot of  their prospective talent the way they do on the men's side. And the sustained success of the U.S. women has created a culture that is itself sustaining.

Little girls in America grow up wanting to be Mia Hamm or Carly Lloyd. Little boys don't grow up wanting to be Jozy Altidore or Clint Dempsey -- or even Christian Pulisic.

Still ... that U.S. men's soccer would fail so spectacularly at this particular moment is especially disheartening, because it did so against the backdrop of increasing concerns about football and its long-term effects. Little boys may still grow up wanting to be Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, but not as much as they once did. The NFL ignored the concussion issue for years, and now that disastrous decision is coming back to bite it at every level of the sport.

Which would seem to benefit soccer.

And which is why not making the World Cup at this precise time in history especially ruinous.

You make the World Cup, after all, and you give kids coming up whose parents want to steer them away from football something to dream of. You stoke a fire for which conditions right now are better than they've perhaps ever been. And you get to sell your game at a time when it's perhaps never been more saleable.

But now?

Now your game goes off the radar at the worst possible time. And the hell of it is, it's off the radar because you failed in a qualifying region that's so forgiving it's almost impossible to fail -- especially for a nation that pours as much money into the sport as the United States.

It's the own goal of all own goals. Or something comparable, surely.