MUST READ: Brian Straus on the USMNT's Many Issues Under Klinsmann

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The players felt uncertainty in San Pedro Sula, starting from the moment Bocanegra was benched and continuing into the Olímpico locker room.

“(Klinsmann) didn’t really say how we were going to play. It was a quick turnaround,” one U.S. player recalled. “He just basically said, ‘Guys, we know the importance of the game. We know it’s going to be a tough game down here. They made it a national holiday. They’re going do everything they can.

“ ‘They’re going to bite, kick and scratch. They’re going to do everything to take you out of your game. But at the end of the day, it’s a game. The ball doesn’t change. The way we play doesn’t change. So just go out there and represent yourselves well.’ ”

Honduras certainly did kick—around and through a ponderous U.S. team hoping to survive with an inexperienced back four, a lack of width and the absence of a midfield playmaker who might help possess the ball and alter the tempo.

It looked so much like the September setback in Jamaica that one source said, “You’re judged as a coach based on what he learned from the first round of qualifying. Nothing.”

Immediately after the loss, Klinsmann focused on his team.

“We gave away too many opportunities to this Honduras team, and they took advantage. Too many players didn’t reach their usual potential,” he said. “Too many players kind of were underneath their usual performance.”

Others focused on Klinsmann.

“Several things about the lineup didn’t work,” one of the players told Sporting News. “Sometimes a coach’s biggest mistake is trying to get in who he sees as the best 11 players on the field. But they don’t have to be. You have to have 11 players on the field who are going to work well with each other and be good for each other.”

It was a miserable day that highlighted the disconnect between the team and its manager.

Speaking to reporters immediately following the game, both midfielder Michael Bradley and goalkeeper Tim Howard offered comments that a pair of former national teamers told Sporting News amounted to “cries for help.”

“I think we need to find a way to get a better rhythm,” Howard said. “It’s OK if you have to sit in and form a shell. That’s OK. But even when you do that, you still need to get about the ball, close it down and get out to the flanks.”

Regarding the makeshift defense, the goalie told New York’s Daily News, “They never played together in any game, let alone a Hex. The back four is all about jelling. It’s a frying pan. We don’t have time to learn.”

When asked what the U.S. might do better, Bradley said, “I think at times, knowing how to tactically get a little smarter as a team and to know that in different types of games, to stay disciplined and to stay connected without running crazy, but in a smart, solid way, control situations.”

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