American Men Crash Out of World Championships as Depleted Switzerland Stuns Team USA to Advance by Ted Gross
photo Men's World Teams
December 17, 2019
-- Heavy favorite Team USA disappeared on the sport's biggest stage
Tuesday, as unlikely Switzerland knocked the Americans out of the 2019
World Team Championships in front of a stunned home crowd at Squash On
Fire in Washington, DC.
The knockout punch from the Swiss was even more difficult to absorb, given the circumstances that led to the match-up.
On the eve of the event and with the schedule officially in place,
Swiss No 1 Nicolas Mueller was forced to withdraw, and the WSF took the
unusual step of re-seeding the teams and re-drawing the pool brackets.
The beneficiary was the US team, which now, instead of dealing with
difficult matches against France and Malaysia, only had to win one
match to advance to the World Teams main draw, and against a
substantially depleted Swiss contingent.
It couldn't have been scripted better for the Americans.
Once the bell rang however, the overmatched Swiss dug deep. US No 1 Todd
Harrity was shocked by Dimitri Steinmann 11-5 in the fourth. US No 3
Andrew Douglas then took care of business against Swiss journeyman
Robin Gadola (ranked 154th in the world). But 2-time US national
champion Chris Hanson (ranked 65th) failed to deliver against veteran performer Reiko
Peter (ranked 148th), and Peter prevailed in an awkward three games,
setting off an emotional Swiss celebration of an improbable milestone
in their squash history.
Switzerland will now face Spain in Wednesday's main draw, while the US
men are relegated to the losers' bracket, in a playdown for 13th place.
For Team USA the year ends on a brutally disappointing note, as the
players, coaches, administrators and enablers search for answers.
Head coach Thierry Lincou's decision to play Hanson and sit veteran US
No 4 Chris Gordon should be second-guessed as well, since the
crunch-time stage may have proved too big for Hanson, while Gordon has
made a career out of calmly handling the journeyman-caliber players
that the Swiss fielded at Nos 2 and 3.
A major lesson that US Squash and 'Team USA' needs to learn is:
Stop celebrating unrealistically.
The post-Pan Am Games party, that seemed to continue for weeks, was
ridiculous. The US men had no significant wins in the Pan Am Games.
Why sugar-coat it?
Channel your focus and energy into what's important--which was beating Switzerland today.
Finally, US Squash needs to hold the players, the coaches, and itself accountable.
Enough with the hand-holding. This is a professional sport, and
ultimately there's only one point to the whole thing, and that's to win.
