The U.S. national team is off to the worst possible start in the CONCACAF Hexagonal, but head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said he is "1,000 percent sure" his team will qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Reuters reports.
Klinsmann also said he has the support of Barack Obama and praised the President’s soccer savvy.
The Americans lost to Mexico 2-1 on Nov. 11 in Columbus, Ohio, snapping a 30-game unbeaten streak in home World Cup qualifiers. But it was a 4-0 loss at Costa Rica last Tuesday that really sent the U.S. soccer community into a tizzy.
But the USA still has eight games to play in the Hex, CONCACAF’s final round of World Cup qualifying, and Klinsmann is encouraging everyone to relax.
"It’s important to put this in the right perspective," Klinsmann told Reuters. "We lost the two opening games and played the two best teams right away. We have eight more games to get the points needed to qualify. We’ve always reacted strongly when things were nerve-wracking.
"This team is always capable of reacting. We’ll correct this with the two games in March (against Honduras and Panama) and we’ll take one game at a time from there to get our points. I’m 1,000 percent sure we’ll qualify."
He said of the reaction to the loss at Costa Rica, "When things go slightly wrong, there are some people who come out and are ready to chop your head off.”
Klinsmann also said he participated in a three-hour brainstorming session with Obama, a Nobel Prize winner, scientists and astronauts, and the President told him, "'Coach, it didn’t go well in Costa Rica, but it’s only the start of the World Cup qualifying and you’ll get back on the right track.'
"He understands that it's a long qualifying process. He also understands dynamics of soccer as a global sport and how it builds bridges."