With Canada suffering a shock draw to Cuba, all the United States needed to do to set up a semifinal against Honduras was defeat El Salvador this evening in Nashville. Unfortunately, Brek Shea and the US squad relinquished two leads in the game and drew 3-3 with El Salvador due to a goal at the 94:15 mark of the second half.

Shea started the game off brightly, twisting two defenders and sending in the cross that Terrence Boyd blasted home to put the United States up 1-0 in just the second minute. Shea was fairly anonymous on the wing most of the night but turned his game up at about the same time the rest of the US squad did as they battled back from a 2-1 deficit to take a 3-2 lead that they just couldn't hold on to. You can't get more of a gut punch than the US squad did tonight, though the fact remains that four points out of three games against Cuba, Canada and El Salvador simply won't get the job done.

There is, of course, a silver lining to the whole thing as Brek Shea and Carlos Rodriguez will return to Dallas and likely be available for Friday night's game at DC United, though it remains to be seen if they will start after both playing three games in the last week. Tonight, however, I feel bad for Brek Shea and the rest of the guys who won't be going to London.