For the first time since 1986, the U.S. men's soccer team will not be in the World Cup.
The team lost last night to Trinidad and Tobago, 2-1 to officially be knocked out of next year's worldwide soccer event in Russia.
"There are two levels to this [outcome]," said Dave Denholm, host of Soccer Weekly on ESPN LA. "On the pitch, the U.S. was simply not good enough. You get ten games in qualifying to figure out your problems and the United States just could not get that done."
Denholm said this problem goes beyond a single series of qualifying matches. In fact, it's been in the making for a while now.
"There was a systemic rot on the men's side of U.S. soccer," Denholm said. "They've missed this World Cup. They did not qualify for the past two Olympic games. U.S. soccer has allowed, frankly, an attitude of, 'We're the U.S., of course, we're going to qualify for big tournaments!'