again before the American people begin tuning out from the games.

TORONTO -- After only two games at the shiny new 2016 World Cup of Hockey, Team USA has no hope of advancing beyond the three-game preliminary round.No hope.Now theres a notion that resonates in the aftermath of its soul-sucking 4-2 loss to host Canada on Tuesday night. Two straight uninspired losses have opened up the team and the process by which it was selected to widespread ridicule.I dont worry about that stuff, U.S. defenseman Ryan Suter, near tears, said after the loss. I worry about the guys in the room. I think were all disappointed. I feel like we let our country down. We let ourselves down. Its just disappointing. You come into this not knowing how many more chances youre going to get, and to be out after two games is extremely disappointing.Team USA didnt come to Toronto as a favorite in this tournament, but did anyone expect it would exit so meekly?Certainly not GM Dean Lombardi and his management team that went off the grid in avoiding high-skill players in favor of players with character, grit, leadership.Through two games, the Americans displayed very few of those qualities.They have scored only two goals and held a lead for exactly 1 minute, 30 seconds.So, was this about picking the wrong players?Or the wrong coach?Or both?One of the most humbling parts of this debacle is that ostensibly this U.S. team was built to face down the international giant that is Canada. The Americans knew they couldnt match them skill for skill, so they hoped to beat them with truculence, a favored term of Brian Burke, who built such a team in 2010 that earned a silver medal (losing in overtime to Canada in an epic gold-medal game).But if that was the case, why was Brandon Dubinsky not in the lineup against Canada on Tuesday? A longtime foil of Canadian captain Sidney Crosby, there seemed to be no reason for Dubinsky to be on this team if he wasnt going to play against Canada.Better to have scorers Phil Kessel, Tyler Johnson or Kyle Okposo.And what of Dustin Byfuglien, the big Winnipeg Jets defenseman who was a healthy scratch from the first game, a 3-0 loss to lightly regarded Team Europe that put the U.S. in a must-win position Tuesday night? His play Tuesday explained in part why he was scratched, as he lost track of Matt Duchene, allowing the Canadian forward to tie the score less than two minutes after Ryan McDonagh had scored the Americans first goal of the tournament.There have always been risk and reward issues with Byfuglien, and yet he was among the first 16 players named last March, presumably to provide offense and a physical presence.And yet its as though there was as disconnect between the coaching staff and the management team as to how this team was supposed to come together. When the team went 0-for-4 on the power play in the first game, it seemed that Byfugliens absence was a problem.Then when he was on the ice, his presence was a problem.Better to have had defensemen Justin Faulk or Kevin Shattenkirk or Cam Fowler, all of whom played in Sochi? The answer now seems unequivocally yes.Even the goaltending choice seemed to have been misguided.Jonathan Quick was stellar in the teams first pre-tournament game against Canada, which assured him the job, even though he was only ordinary against the San Jose Sharks in a first-round playoff loss last spring, while the Tampa Bay Lightnings Ben Bishop led his team to the 2015 Stanley Cup finals and then the Eastern Conference finals last season and has a .927 save percentage over the past two playoff years.Not that Quick had much help, but at one point Tuesday hed allowed three goals on six Canadian shots.Up front, bringing Johnson, a proven playoff performer, would have allowed captain Joe Pavelski to stay on the wing, where he has had tremendous success for the Sharks.But what is undeniable is that the players who were in Toronto simply werent good enough.Defending scoring champ Patrick Kane continued his struggles offensively in these best-on-best tournaments, going without a goal in two games. He did not score at all in Sochi.He seemed unsure of himself, passing up a glorious chance to shoot on a 3-on-1 in the second period, the U.S. trailing 3-1, to make a pass that went awry.I obviously didnt do my job this tournament and produce offense and help create goals for the team, Kane said.Was it the winger or was he never put in a position to succeed?USA coach John Tortorella never found the right combination of players to unleash Kanes magnificent skill. He tried Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty, who has had a dreadful tournament, as well as James van Riemsdyk and others.Certainly Tortorella is a lightning rod for the significant discontent with the American collapse. When he was named head coach, he was between jobs and the feeling was that his emotion would serve Team USA well in a short tournament with so little margin for error.But shortly after being named to the post, Tortorella got the head coaching job with the Columbus Blue Jackets.The strange thing is that Tortorella had a top-notch coaching staff working with him, including Mike Sullivan, who is coming off a Stanley Cup win with the Pittsburgh Penguins?in June, and yet this team never found any kind of rhythm.Even small things, like not pulling Quick in the third period when the U.S. was trailing by three but went on a power play.Yeah, its disappointing, frustrating, Tortorella said of the teams performance thus far. All different types of emotions. Yeah, I think we let some people down. Its on my watch. I certainly feel responsible for that. So yeah, its really disappointing.And heres the thing, as the Americans contemplate a final meaningless preliminary round game with the Czech Republic on Thursday (8 p.m., ESPN2).Everything was tilted the Americans way at this tournament to give them the best chance of success.They were slotted in the softest of the two World Cup of Hockey pools with lesser hockey lights Team Europe and the Czech Republic. They didnt have to play back-to-back games. They got two days off to prepare for Canada.But whatever breaks had been given them were not nearly enough to overcome the myriad flaws this team possesses. Cheap Vapormax Womens . 8 Iowa State on Saturday, sending the Cyclones to their third consecutive loss. The Longhorns (14-4, 3-2) got their biggest win of the season with their third in the row in the Big 12. Vapormax Womens Shoes . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. 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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti acknowledged Saturday that the results of Novembers U.S. presidential election could weigh heavily on his citys chances of hosting the 2024 Olympics, saying that a victory by Donald Trump could turn off IOC voters.In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Garcetti also said Los Angeles could offer the last best hope for the United States to host the Summer Olympics again before the American people begin tuning out from the games.Garcetti, a 45-year-old Democrat and supporter of Hillary Clinton, is in Brazil to observe the Rio de Janeiro Games and pitch his citys bid to members of the International Olympic Committee. One of the main topics of conversation with IOC delegates has been the U.S. election -- and the prospects of a Trump presidency.I think for some of the IOC members they would say, `Wait a second, can we go to a country like that, where weve heard things that we take offense to? Garcetti said. But I think that gives us even more urgency globally, where we can say, `This is something that is a different strength maybe than the things that youve heard or the things you believe. I think we continue no matter what the outcome of the election is.A new U.S. president will be in office when the IOC selects the 2024 host city in September 2017. Los Angeles, which hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984, is competing with Paris, Rome and Budapest, Hungary.Everything that were going through right now in the United States politically, I dont want us to be a country that turns into itself, said Garcetti, who spoke at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia last month. I think we have to look outward to the world.The IOCs 98 members come from all over the world, and Trumps comments on Mexicans, Muslims and other issues wont encourage them to vote for a U.S. city.They wonder, `Is America going to take this strange turn? Garcetti said. Were there to be an election result that is less international, more inward focused, maybe theres even greater urgency to a bid like this.But even if that doesnt happen, even the threat of that, the talk of that, the idea that we exclude people based on who they are at our borders, gives us urgency to having things like the Olympics underscore who we are and what were about.Los Angeles bid chairman Casey Wasserman said the city will continue to push the bid on its own technical merits.I dont think you can judge a country by who runs for president, he said. I think you should judge a country on who is the president and their beliefs and their policies. And clearly thats something the members will take into account. But thats something I cant control.Los Angeles is seeking to bring the Summer Olympics back to the U.S. for the first time since Atlanta hosted the 1996 Games. The bid follows failed attempts by New York and Chicago for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, respectively.I dont know if this is the last best hope, but I do think that after a few bids, after a while, there will be real feeliing of people tuning out in America, a new generation that isnt connected with the legacy sports, said Garcetti, who attended Rios opening ceremony on Friday night, 32 years after going to the close of the 84 Games as a 13-year-old.ddddddddddddRecent American bids have suffered from anti-U.S. sentiment among some members in the European-dominated IOC, and Garcetti said he is working to change that.There may be a general anti-Americanism but once you create a relationship with somebody, it becomes a relationship with Eric and that person, he said. As we get to know each other over time, they realize you cant slap a title, just like `American and a caricature of what that means on anybody.I want to listen, Garcetti said. I dont want to just come in and say, `Were the Americans, we get the most medals, we bring in the sponsorships. That turns people off.He acknowledged there could be a backlash among some IOC members to what they consider U.S. meddling in global sports affairs, including the Justice Department investigation of world soccer body FIFA and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agencys call for a total ban on Russias Olympic team over state-sponsored doping.Ive been very careful to say, `Look, what prosecutors or anti-doping officials do, at least in our country, is completely separate from what a mayor or a city government is about. Were not involved at all.On other issues, Garcetti:- encouraged Rome to remain in the 2024 race despite current opposition from new mayor Virginia Raggi, who says the city has bigger priorities at the moment. Garcetti said he has been in touch with Raggis office to urge Rome to stay in.You can fix your problems first, but that doesnt mean you have to exclude great opportunities like the Olympics, he said.- embraced the five new sports approved by the IOC for the 2020 Tokyo Games -- baseball/softball, surfing, skateboarding, karate and sport climbing. While they have been added for Tokyo only, Garcetti said he would hope they could also be included in Los Angeles.Skateboarding and surfing, those are synonymous with LA, he said. If were lucky enough to win, I would absolutely see us continuing those sports.- confirmed that the new NFL stadium being built for the Los Angeles Rams would be used for the Olympics if the city wins the bid. Rams owner Stan Kroenke is helping to build a new $2.6 billion retractable roof stadium in Inglewood, California, scheduled to be completed in 2019.The new stadium could be considered for hosting the opening and closing ceremonies. The Coliseum would host the track and field competition.Weve not yet defined how well use the stadium but were very excited to use the stadium, Garcetti said. Stand by, but were talking with the Rams, Stan Kroenke, about the best way.--Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stevewilsonap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/stephen-wilson ' ' '