Odds of them advancing from the group were -1600.
If you had bet ¥1 on this happening, your winnings would be ¥16
They are 11th in the world and 3rd in America in the FIFA rankings.
They were in a group stage with Uruguay, Panama and Bolivia. Two go through, two go out. Uruguay getting the top and Bolivia the bottom was assured – so the USA and Panamá battle it out for the 2nd qualifying spot.
The Panamá-USA head-to-head was the turning point. Timothy Weah, the son of George Weah who was president of Liberia until this January and scored that great goal for AC Milan in 1997, decided to punch a guy in the back of the head for no reason forcing them to play most of the game a man down and lose. That gives Panamá two victories (USA and Bolivia) and the USA two defeats (Panamá and Uruguay)
The Guardian are stressing a contentious offside decision in USA-Uruguay last night, but even without that decision they wouldn't've qualified.
As much as I believe in “death to America” I believe that soccer should be bigger in this place. I’m that person who watches lower league soccer and hates MLS because it’s structured like the NFL instead of every other football league in the word. So frankly I’m bummed about this because if the US made a good run at the cup, it might generate some hype for the game here before the World Cup.
Anyways