Trinidad & Tobago Stadium Track Flooded Ahead of USA's World Cup Qualifying Finale
The United States are facing a nightmare pitch or the possibility of postponement or rearrangement ahead of their crucial final World Cup qualifier away against Trinidad & Tobago this week.
At serious risk of missing out on automatic passage to Russia until a 4-0 win over Panama in Orlando on Friday put them ahead of the Central American nation, the U.S. team still needs a positive result in Trinidad to keep their destiny in their own hands.
The only problem is that adverse weather in the days leading up to Tuesday's crunch game has flooded the Ato Boldon Stadium.
When the American squad arrived to train on Monday, they were greeted with what effectively looked like a moat surrounding the pitch.
With 12 points and one game left to play, the United States currently occupies the third of three automatic qualifying positions in the final round of the CONCACAF section.
Panama sits two points further back in fourth, good enough for a place in an intercontinental playoff against the fifth best AFC team - the winner of a playoff between Australia and Syria.
Honduras is also still not out of the equation. Like Panama, it also has 10 points and could yet jump into third or fourth place if results in the final round of fixtures go in its favor.
The United States must beat Trinidad to be certain of their qualification, though a draw would likely be good enough because of goal differential. But if it were to lose it would open the door for either Panama or Honduras to take advantage, with home games against Costa Rica and Mexico, respectively, both of whom have already qualified.
Should both Panama and Honduras win, the United States could even drop down to fifth place and miss out altogether if they don't get their own result. In that scenario, 2018 would be the first World Cup without the stars and stripes since 1986.
