Not even the appearance of the finest player the world has ever seen, Jack Nicklaus, could inspire his American compatriots towards a comeback of epic sporting scale.
With a 2-0 lead they were even ahead on the away-goals rule before Hugo Ibarra's disputed goal steered Monaco towards a comeback completed by Fernando Morientes.
Just as the perfectionist film directors Stanley Kubrick and Terrence Malick (both prone to leave long gaps between films) have never actually abandoned cinema, so these writers continued to work towards a comeback.
But after further surgery last September he was invited to join England's fast-bowling performance programme in South Africa earlier this year, and has returned to the same country to take further long strides towards a comeback over the last 10 days, during Surrey's pre-season training camp.
Teixeira was chosen from 10 plausible candidates to make way as the interim manager, Rob Edwards, sought to find a route back from 2-0 down but instead of hurrying to let George Saville have a go at sparking their comeback he lumbered slowly towards the touchline, his discontent evident while the Molineux crowd, close to apoplexy, made theirs felt in another way.
The 31-year-old, the leading wicket-taker in the top flight of the Championship in 2013, pulled up on the opening morning of the match against Sussex just over three weeks ago, and had been eased towards a comeback in Tuesday's second XI's one-day fixture against Leeds Bradford University on Tuesday.
In fact, she has spent the last decade labouring towards a comeback.
NEARLY four years after an earthquake and tsunami triggered the meltdown of the Fukushima power plant, Japan is moving towards a nuclear comeback.
Goldman Sachs is endorsing CIT Group's push towards a financial comeback.
But friends stuck with Downey and helped him back on his feet, ushering him towards his eventual comeback.
