Breathe.
That’s what I’ve been doing since the U.S.’s unlikely and improbable 2-1 defeat to Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday night. It’s also what I’ve been trying to tell fans and friends alike who have been texting me since the final whistle blew. I’ve never seen such sporting anguish in my Twitter feed.
It was a series of impossible results that all lined up to create a scenario that no American soccer fan ever imagined could come to fruition. In the heat of such a defeat, there have been calls for change. Self-criticism is a natural reaction: Was it Jurgen Klinsmann’s fault?