Los Angeles (AFP) – The US national team continued rebuilding after their World Cup failure by drawing 0-0 with Bosnia-Herzegovina in their opening game of 2018 on Sunday night.
Just 11 weeks after a humiliating qualifying round defeat to last place Trinidad and Tobago, the Americans fielded a young inexperienced squad for the exhibition match at the StubHub Center stadium in Los Angeles.
Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Luka Menalo had one of the best chances to score in the 43rd minute of the first half but his right-footed shot from the centre of the box was blocked by US goalkeeper Bill Hamid.
Menalo had another opportunity in the 66th minute, weaving his way through three defenders but he couldn’t finish.
His shot to the bottom right corner didn’t get past Zach Steffen, who had come in to replace Hamid.
Steffen was making his national team debut.
Both teams were missing many of their top players as the US squad had just two national team veterans, Gyasi Zardes and Jordan Morris.
Dave Sarachan is now 0-0-2 as interim manager of the US national team since taking over from Bruce Arena.
He led the Americans to a 1-1 draw in Portugal in November.
The USA World Cup hopes were dashed with a 2-1 qualifying round defeat to Trinidad and Tobago, ending seven straight appearances for the US on soccer’s biggest stage. All the US needed to advance was a tie against Trinidad.
Bosnia-Herzegovina also failed to get into the World Cup.
