With the U.S. five minutes away from seeing its pursuit of an eighth consecutive World Cup seriously impeded, Bobby Wood rescued the Americans by scoring off a mad scramble in front of the goal, salvaging 1-1 tie with Honduras and keeping the U.S. in charge of its own qualifying destiny.
With the draw, the U.S. (2-3-3) remains in third place in the six-team hexagonal tournament, leading Honduras (also 2-3-3) by goal differential. Only the top three teams in the CONCACAF tournament advance automatically to next summer’s World Cup in Russia.
And though both the U.S. and Honduras figure to fall behind Panama, who played last-place Trinidad and Tobago in Tuesday’s late game, the Americans get a shot at Panama at home next month before finishing the qualifying competition against Trinidad and Tobago.
A pair of wins in those games assures the U.S. passage to Russia.
That didn’t look so certain for the U.S. for much of Tuesday, with Romell Quioto’s goal in the 28th minute giving the home team to a 1-0 lead it held until the 85th minute when Wood, a second-half substitute, chested a rebound down to the ground at the edge of the six-yard box, then blasted a shot past Honduran goalie Luis Lopez to equal the score.
U.S. coach Bruce Arena, who won his first 14 games this year but is winless in his last two, made seven changes to the lineup he used in last week’s loss to Costa Rica, the same number he made between the last pair of qualifiers in June. Among them was Brad Guzan subbing for Tim Howard in goal, Clint Dempsey replacing the absent Jozy Altidore at forward and Omar Gonzalez and DaMarcus Beasley starting on defense.
In June, the changes were seen partly as a concession to Mexico City’s high altitude. This time they were inspired by what were expected to be blast-furnace weather conditions in Honduras. Afternoon games in San Pedro Sula are always challenging but Tuesday’s weather was even more punishing, with the 91-degree temperatures and 69% humidity at kickoff combining for a heat index of 107 degrees.
A constant breeze helped cool things off, however, and the absence of the thunderstorms that had been forecast made the conditions less oppressive.
Under the mostly cloudless skies, the U.S. came out aggressive in a match that featured a lot of early pushing, shoving and shirt-grabbing. The Americans’ promising start produced little in the way of good chances though. And when they began to wilt midway through the opening half, Honduras took advantage, with Alberth Ellis sending a cross into the box for Quioto, his Houston Dynamo teammate, who volleyed it high over the crossbar.
The U.S. wasn’t so lucky moments later when Quito took advantage of some weak U.S. defending to give Honduras the lead.
The Central Americans were torching the U.S. up the wings, which is where Quioto’s goal came from. The sequence started with the MLS forward chasing a through ball from Alexander Lopez up the left side and when Gonzalez — beaten cleanly on the play and with no help behind him — got only part of the ball on a slide tackle at the edge of the penalty area, Quioto stepped away from him and curled a right-footed shot in off the far post.
It was the second time in as many games that the U.S. conceded the first goal and both came as a result of questionable defending – not a good sign for the team that has won just once in 38 previous qualifiers when it trailed at the half.
Pulisic, the most dangerous U.S. player for much of the afternoon, had a chance to pull the U.S. even, taking a feed from Jordan Morris behind the Honduran defense and coming in 1-on-1 against keeper Luis Lopez near the end line. But Lopez, who had the advantage given the tough shooting angle, easily smothered Pulisic’s try.
With the lead Honduras, which dominated possession and had a big margin in shots, played smartly in the second half, retaining its defense shape when it had to and looking for a counterattack when one presented itself.
But it couldn’t withstand a final, furious and desperate U.S. attack that paid off in Wood’s late equalizer.
Twitter @kbaxter11