USMNT qualifies for Copa America 2024 despite Serginho Dest’s red card against Trinidad

The United States qualified for the 2024 Copa America on Monday night despite losing 2-1 to Trinidad and Tobago.

The Americans took an early first-half lead in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and looked to be firmly in control of the game before Serginho Dest was shown a red card in the 39th minute after picking up two yellow cards within a minute of the match. Strange sequence.

Dest was shown a yellow card for picking up and kicking the ball away after the ball was called out of bounds by the linesman. Dest then turned and began speaking to the center referee, covering his mouth as he did so and pointing towards the linesman. Dest seemed annoyed that the mistake he made earlier was not called out. Several teammates, including Gio Reyna, Younes Musa and Tim Ream, tried to pull Dest away, but he continued to talk to the referee and eventually blew a kiss. At that point he received a second yellow card, and therefore a red, and was sent off.

Both Reem and goalkeeper Matt Turner were seen shouting at Dest as he walked off the field and eventually into the locker room. USA coach Gregg Berhalter immediately substituted right back Joe Scully for the game in favor of Gio Reyna, but four minutes after Dest was sent off, Trinidad equalized with a goal from Rion Moore.

The United States led by three goals from the first leg, and after Antonee Robinson’s header opened the scoring on Monday night, they took a four-goal lead on an away goal, meaning Trinidad and Tobago will need to score five unanswered goals in order to qualify. To remove the United States from the League of Nations.

T&T took a 2-1 lead from an Alvin Jones free kick in the 57th minute that somehow found its way into Turner’s hands. It was a familiar result for the United States in Trinidad. They lost 2-1 in Couva, Trinidad in 2017, on their last visit to the island nation, in the match that knocked them out of the 2018 World Cup. However, the USA managed to limit the damage at that point, maintaining their place in the Copa America.

With the win, the United States also advances to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Nations League in March. The United States has won the first two editions of the UEFA Nations League and now has a shot at a third straight title.

what are they saying

“It’s crazy, it’s unacceptable,” former USMNT star DaMarcus Beasley said on TNT’s halftime broadcast. “This is unacceptable. What he did now was put his team, put the American team under this kind of pressure going into the second half, going into a real important game. And now he misses the semi-finals. I would like to know what made him so upset when he kicked The ball was out of the field and then he started shouting at his teammates while you were leaving the field.

Beasley was asked what Dest’s team-mates would say to him at half-time.

“I’ll just go to my OGs, if this was Gregg Berhalter when he was a player and he were to meet Serginho Dest in the locker room, all hell would break loose,” Beasley said. “Same with Clint Dempsey. Same with Carlos Bocanegra. Leaders of the national team. They are not going to let this get away from us.”

“I understand kicking the ball out of the park makes you upset, but then you keep going and then you keep blowing kisses to the referee,” Paisley said. “Why? Because you didn’t get (faulted on you). That’s how a child behaves. I don’t understand it and I’m still upset about it.”

After the match, Berhalter spoke about Dest’s red card.

“He apologized to the group. “He said it would never happen again,” Berhalter said. He added: “As a team, the players, the coaching staff, we need to hold him accountable, because this is inexcusable, it really is. We were very firm in our words after the game. He put a number of guys in danger, made a number of them do a lot of extra work on this.” “The weather. This is justified.”

Berhalter faced several questions about Dest before saying he did not want it to be a “witch hunt” and said the team would work on moving on after Monday’s red card.

“Serge has done a great job of maturing and growing over the years he has been with the group, and for him, this should be a learning experience,” Berhalter said. “It will be a learning experience. How we work, we give people second chances, we work with people, we help them overcome such situations. So, we will do the same with Sergio. He is a talented player, and he is an important part of our team. We need to have good conversations with him.” (And) making sure we get it on the right track.

Ream described Dest’s actions as “a complete lack of respect for the players who play, and for the people on the bench.”

What then?

The USA A’s won’t meet again until March, when they meet in the UNL semifinals on March 21. The teams that will join them in these matches have not yet been determined.

Panama leads Costa Rica 3-0 on aggregate and will host it later on Monday evening. Canada leads Jamaica 2-1, and Honduras leads Mexico 2-0. These matches are scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

The United States traditionally holds a camp in January for professional players in Major League Soccer, although that camp has not yet been announced. However, this could be an excellent opportunity to bring in Olympic-eligible players and, as is traditionally the case, build the depth of the group.

(Photo: Carmen Mandato/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)