FIFA Men's World Cup

It’s been 35 years since Peru’s last appearance at a FIFA World Cup finals, a streak of hurt dating back to the 1982 tournament in Spain. By improbably finishing fifth in CONMEBOL qualifying, ahead of back-to-back Copa America champions Chile and 2014 finalists Ecuador, a home-and-away playoff against Oceania representative New Zealand is the only thing standing in the way of Peru punching their ticket to Russia. 

A wonderful 4-0 victory over Panama back on October 6 sees the United States Men’s National Team climb to 27 in the latest FIFA World Rankings, leaving Ukraine, Turkey and Iran in their torrential wake. The U.S. could’ve made further strides with a win against Trinidad and Tobago, but the Soca Warriors used the shock 2-1 victory to their own advantage, climbing up 16 places to 83.

Taylor Twellman was back at it again Wednesday morning. After his epic rant went viral on Tuesday night after the Americans’ shocking elimination from the 2018 World Cup, Twellman returned to the ESPN airwaves to rant some more on the morning SportsCenter. 

Last night Panama officially reached the first World Cup finals in their history. Accordingly, Panama President Juan Carlos Varela has declared today a national holiday.

In a series of tweets, Varela gave public and private sector workers the day off, and canceled classes for students.

Here's Varela's full quote:

Normally I do not care much for Taylor Twellman as a broadcaster. He sounds like he's arguing with a vaery angry invisible person all the time. However, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I also think Twellman does good things. His work in concussion prevention is admirable. And then there was the rant Twellman went on after the USA's elimination from World Cup qualification.

I have never seen anyone that angry be that articulate at the same time, so kudos to Taylor Twellman. He said it better than I could have.

$400 million. That’s how much Fox Sports paid to wrestle the English-language World Cup broadcasting rights away from ESPN. That total includes both the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, but Fox’s plans for the 2018 edition took a massive hit last night when the United States was eliminated from contention by Trinidad and Tobago, a country trumped in population numbers by Hawaii.

Maybe you’ve already heard, but the USMNT will not be going to the World Cup. They’ve been gazumped in the Hex by both Panama and Honduras following the most embarrassing defeat in the history of American sport. But America’s loss is another’s gain, primarily Panama’s, who’ve clinched automatic qualification to Russia. 

The nightmare is real. Three days before Friday the 13th and a few weeks before Halloween, U.S. Soccer completed its horror-show qualifying campaign with a 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago in Cuovo, eliminating the Americans from the World Cup given the results elsewhere in the CONCACAF Hex. With Honduras beating Mexico 3-2 and Panama edging Costa Rica 2-1, the U.S. fell from third to fifth place.