Worst case scenario: Trinidad and Tobago 2, United States 1

After turning in a truly abysmal performance in Port-Of-Spain, the United States did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup, falling 2-1 to a Trinidad and Tobago side already eliminated from the tournament.

The USA finished in fifth in the Hex, and will miss the World Cup for the first time since the 1986 event in Mexico. Panama defeated Costa Rica 2-1 with a late winner from Roman Torres to finish third and Honduras finished in fourth with a 3-2 win over Mexico.

The pitch was an absolute mess and the atmosphere was non-existent, but neither excused the complete lack of effort from the USA. Nobody seemed interested, and the team looked completely flat.

Despite starting out with most of the possession, the USA never looked threatening and Trinidad always looked dangerous on the counter, simply because they had a three-on-four with no American midfielders tracking back outside of occasional defending from Michael Bradley.

In the 17th minute, a lofted cross was sent in to the top of the box and it bounced off Omar Gonzalez for a looping header that beat Tim Howard at the far post to make 1-0 to the hosts.

The nightmare escalated in the 37th minute when Alvin Jones teed up a screamer from 30 yards out that swerved past Tim Howard into the far corner to make it 2-0.

The USA grabbed one back right after halftime with a superb strike from Christian Pulisic, but it was not enough.

The United States will likely have to clean house after this nightmare of a World Cup cycle. Most of the current squad will be gone. Bruce Arena will be gone. There will be a lot of soul searching to do.

With the way the USA played this World Cup qualifying cycle, they deserved to lose. They won no road matches, and ended on a whimper, falling to an already eliminated Trinidad and Tobago side.

This night will go down as the blackest of marks in American football history. Time will tell if this miserable evening in Port-Of-Spain will rejuvenate the program, or become the start of a dark period.