T&T assistant: We sought revenge against 'disrespectful' U.S.

With one win and eight losses under its belt, Trinidad and Tobago took the field in Tuesday's visit from the United States wanting revenge.

Retribution wasn't sought in response to Donald Trump's controversial immigration policy - as U.S. handler Bruce Arena previously speculated - nor was it a retort to five matches without a win against its illustrious visitor. Instead, T&T players and coaching staff were upset by how the traveling party reacted to the waterlogged field at Ato Boldon Stadium, so used their frustrations to help engineer an historic 2-1 triumph.

"There was a lot of fire in our eyes," T&T assistant coach Stern John told Martin Rodgers of USA TODAY Sports. "I think it was disrespectful of them."

Honduras' shock 3-2 defeat of Mexico and Panama's victory over Costa Rica meant the U.S. will miss out on its first World Cup campaign since 1986. Christian Pulisic, the darling and great hope of American soccer, was in tears.

John, a formerly bustling striker for the Columbus Crew and many English teams including Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City, is unsympathetic and blames the attitude of the U.S. players. The Trinidadian believes they mocked the facilities in Couva, and that only served to spur the locals into playing spoiler on the last day of CONCACAF qualification.

Related: Former U.S. players deliver postmortems in wake of Trinidad shame

"I think they were a bit overconfident and a bit disrespectful because they came in yesterday and rain fell on the pitch and they were giving each other piggybacks (over the water) and all kind of stuff," John continued.

"Rain fell, it is not our fault. They made a big scene out of it and it was international news all over the world. It was all over the media. Our families (told us about it). Most of our guys are on social media so they see it. They see the USA guys getting piggybacked to the field - it is embarrassing."

Leston Paul, a midfielder who plies his trade in El Salvador, admitted that revenge "was in the back of the head" for the encounter, and said the U.S. "learned their lesson" for showing signs of complacency.