“The ball was doing crazy stuff today,” Morgan said.

Whatever game the teams thought they were playing, it wasn’t soccer: Neither team completed more than 42% of its passes and together they combined for just 15 shots. The beautiful game drowned in the quagmire.

Naomi Girma’s first reaction was to giggle.

“I have not experienced anything like that,” she said. “After the first five minutes, I wasn’t sure if we were going to keep playing. The ball’s not moving. There were so many puddles.

“It was not safe.”

And with a spot in the confederation’s title game at stake, both teams — as well as the sport — deserved better. Yet CONCACAF put the blame on García, saying “it is solely at the discretion of the referee as to whether the field is safe and playable.”

García, however, was seen conferring with people on the sidelines, so at best it was a joint decision. Either way, the game continued.

“We had a game plan, they had a game plan,” interim U.S. coach Twila Kilgore said. “That pretty much goes out the window in the first minute.”

The weather conditions led to the game’s first goal when a routine back pass from Canadian defender Vanessa Giles simply stopped in the mud, allowing U.S. attacker Jaedyn Shaw to race around Giles and put a shot past keeper Kailen Sheridan, her club teammate with the San Diego Wave.

The goal, in the 20th minute, made Shaw the first player in USWNT history to score in each of her first four starts. The puddle should have been given an assist.

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