SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR — American players and the entire U.S. soccer community waited 1,424 days for this moment. Neither a triumph nor another tumble, the night showed problems mixed among promise.
“First reaction is disappointed,” defender Tim Ream said after a 0-0 draw at El Salvador on Thursday night in the opener of pandemic-delayed World Cup qualifying.
At the type of Central American stadium that repeatedly has stymied the Americans, fireworks started during El Salvador’s national anthem and lasted into the fifth minute. That energized an already boisterous crowd of about 29,000 that started filling Monumental Estadio Cuscatlán, Central America’s largest stadium, about 8 1/2 hours before kickoff.