NASHVILLE – The U.S. Under-23 men's soccer team began the Olympic qualifying process brimming with confidence and composure. But thei...
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Considering the stakes, El Salvador's Jaime Alas faced amazingly little resistance as he weaved toward the goal. From 25 yards out, Alas took a desperate 25-yard shot that bounced once before caroming off U.S. goalkeeperSean Johnson as he dove.
That gave El Salvador a 3-3 tie and a first-place finish in Group A of the CONCACAF qualifying, while dropping the U.S. to third and out of the running for Friday's semifinals.
It also undid a valiant comeback by the U.S., which had been down 2-1.
"The heart they showed, the passion they showed, the grit," U.S. coach Caleb Porter said of his team. "They did everything they needed to do to win the game. In my opinion they deserved better."
Instead, El Salvador remains alive for only the second Olympic soccer berth in its history and the first since 1968. The U.S. had qualified for six of the previous seven Olympics.
Backup goalkeeper Johnson had made a solid save just a minute before the final goal. He was in the game only because starter Bill Hamid came out limping after El Salvador scored twice in a three-minute span in the first half to go up 2-1.
El Salvador coach Mauricio Alvaro said he had noticed that when Johnson entered the game he seemed a little nervous while handling his first save. The coach said he told his team to try to shoot more often in the second half.
On the final goal, Alvaro said through a translator, "That shot really didn't have that much power."
Porter acknowledged that Johnson blamed himself for letting the victory get away, but said, "I told him he didn't."
"I've never felt anything like this in my life," the coach said. "In some ways I'm still in shock. It was last second."
The U.S. got out to the best possible start, as Terrence Boyd scored just 61 seconds into the game. Boyd scored again in the 65th minute for a 2-2 tie, and then a header by Joe Corona gave the U.S. its 3-2 lead in the 68th minute.
"For us, it's a nightmare right now, because we were the team that had the most talent, I think," Boyd said.
He added that the U.S. wouldn't have been in a must-win situation if it hadn't lost to Canada on Saturday.
"That was the thing that broke our neck," Boyd said.
Both second-half U.S. goals came on passes from team captain Freddy Adu.
"This is probably the worst feeling I've ever felt in my life so far as a pro athlete," Adu said. "This is going to be hard to get over. … For me, I never want to feel this way again, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to never feel this way again."
U.S. midfielder Mix Diskerud said it was agonizing waiting for the final minutes to tick off, including the four minutes of stoppage time that were added.
"All the minutes after our third goal felt very, very long, like hours," Diskerud said. "But I thought we were going to make it."
Said Porter, who had been coaching the U.S. at camps on and off over the last four months: "It's a painful moment. The players are devastated. To put in as much as they put in, to play the way they did in the second half. It's unimaginable."
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