On the morning of Wednesday, October 11th, U.S. soccer fans woke up dejected and dispirited after the U.S Men’s National team failed to qualify for the Russia 2018 World Cup. The United States faced Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday evening, with many expecting the game to be a comfortable win for the U.S.

In an unexpected upset however, Trinidad and Tobago defeated the U.S.A. 2-1. This  effectively ended their dreams to play in Russia next summer. With the resigning of manager Bruce Arena, the public has been calling for many changes to be made to the whole system of the US Soccer Team. With many soccer fans in the McLean community, there was a strong sentiment of disapproval from the students. An avid soccer fan, Steven Lourenco voiced his emotions about the absence of the United States at the World Cup.

“The World Cup only comes every four years, not seeing you home country in it and knowing you have to wait another four years for the next World Cup is very sad,” Lourenco said.

He suggested changes to the team would ensure a bright future for the team.

“We got to get rid of all the old players, and we need to bring in the young players and get them experience. Then we will have a good chance,” Lourenco said.

Ben Myers similarly believed that the reason for the poor performance was the players responsibility.

“The players were not good enough and they simply need to get better and build around the young talent,” Myers said.

For a sport that is growing in America but yet to gain a strong foothold against the likes of the NBA, NFL and the MLB, popularizing the sport is considered to be an important priority in order to improve the Men’s soccer team.

Henry Polk believed that advertising could be an important strategy in order to achieve this.

“You see all this advertising for other sports, but not much about soccer or the Major League Soccer(America’s Soccer Team)” Polk said.  Myers believed that winning would bring more attention to the sport.

“If the National Team is really good and gets far in the World Cup, then people will start following the sport more,” Myers said.

Overall, although the country and many soccer fans in the McLean community are heartbroken over the failure of the United States to qualify for the World Cup, fans seem to have many thoughts and opinions on why the team faltered, and what changes need to be made to improve.