USMNT arrives at World Cup qualifying stadium to find it’s basically a lake

The United States is scheduled to play Trinidad and Tobago in its final 2018 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. But a day before the match, it looks like the pitch might not be playable. Players arrived for training at Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Trinidad on Monday to find the field surrounded by a moat, with the sidelines still underwater and large portions of it unplayable.

Here are some extremely unamused members of the USMNT training staff giving players (pampered tattooed millionaires, Alexi?) piggyback rides across the moat.

There aren’t any more serious storms in the weather forecast between this training session and Tuesday’s game, but it is likely to rain a couple more times. And to make things worse, Ato Boldon Stadium does not appear to have the proper equipment to deal with this situation. Here’s what ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle saw on the scene.

Trinidad and Tobago has a more modern stadium that would likely have no problem getting ready for this game — Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain — but the federation chose this venue instead. There are reportedly lighting problems at Hasely Crawford Stadium, and T&T’s federation said that Ato Boldon Stadium is better for both cost and atmosphere.

“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,” T&T FA vice president Ewing Davis told the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian in July. “There are also additional expenses we have to deal with which I believe will be cheaper at the Couva venue.” The stands are also much closer to the pitch at Ato Boldon than they are at Hasely Crawford, giving T&T a better home-field advantage.

There isn’t any rain in the forecast for Tuesday, meaning the pitch could probably be in good condition by Wednesday if the two federations and CONCACAF could come to an agreement. But fans, TV networks, and the players’ clubs would be very unhappy with a postponement, as would Honduras and Panama, who might feel the United States gains an advantage in the event it knows the other scores and what result it needs to make the World Cup.

If the pitch is even remotely playable, it would be surprising if the game did not go forward is scheduled. The USMNT is the team responsible for SnowClásico, after all. It can hardly complain about being asked to play on a mud patch.

The USMNT currently sits in third place — an automatic qualifying position — on 12 points and a plus-7 goal differential. Panama and Honduras both have 10 points, on goal differentials of minus-2 and minus-7 respectively. The USMNT also beats Panama in goals scored and head-to-head, which means the USMNT would qualify with a draw against T&T as long as Panama does not defeat Costa Rica by eight goals.