The USMNT's World Cup Qualifier Might Be A Little Underwater

The U.S. Men’s National Team can all but clinch a place in the 2018 World Cup with any sort of result at Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday evening. Except: It’s now looking kind of questionable whether the match will be able to be played. The pitch at Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva is sodden and in places impassable:

In July, right around when it became clear that T&T wasn’t going to advance out of the Hex, the country’s FA moved its remaining qualifying matches from the much larger national stadium in Port of Spain to the 10,000-seater in Couva. Livelier fan support was advanced as one reason for the move, as was the reduced cost:

“At the Hasely Crawford Stadium we incur debts of over $120,000 each for the services of both the police and the fire services, which would be much less at the Ato Boldon. There are also additional expenses we have to deal with which I believe will be cheaper at the Couva venue” Davis said.

Get a cheaper stadium, and sometimes you get a moat.

U.S. Soccer officials, their T&T counterparts, and CONCACAF officials are currently discussing whether the game can be played as scheduled tomorrow. We’ll learn more when the USMNT addresses the media this afternoon.