The United States are "absolutely devastated" at missing out on qualification for the Olympic men's soccer tournament following Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Honduras, said coach Jason Kreis.

Defeat in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament means the United States will miss a third successive Games, with their last appearance coming in Beijing.

Chalk up another missed opportunity for the U.S. men’s soccer program to qualify for an international competition. For the third straight time, the U.S. men failed to qualify for the Olympics, losing 2-1 to Honduras after a horrific howler from the American keeper on Sunday evening in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Five straight friendly wins for the U.S. after it beat Northern Ireland 2-1 on Sunday, a rare victory in Europe; nine games without a loss tallying a 33-5 goal margin. The USMNT is playing better than it has in years, and while the competition hasn’t been the best, there’s an undeniable new mood around the team. 

Over the years FIFA has been opposed to players, teams and fans engaging in protests or sloganeering but it seems global soccer's governing body is perhaps now prepared to tolerate a blurring of the line it once drew between politics and sport.

On Wednesday, Norway's national team players wore T-shirts declaring "Human rights - on and off the pitch" as they lined up before their World Cup qualifier against Gibraltar, and the following day Germany made a similar protest before its qualifier against Iceland in Duisburg.

Midfielder Christian Pulisic returned to the United States men's national team after a 17-month absence in a 4-1 win against Jamaica on Thursday in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

Sergiño Dest scored his first goal in his sixth match in the 34th minute and Brenden Aaronson made it 2-0 in the 52nd before Jamaica's Jamal Lowe halved the deficit in the 70th minute. Sebastian Lletget scored in the 83rd and 90th minutes to seal the win.