Relegated from the Premier League, in administration and placed under a transfer embargo by England's football authorities, Portsmouth could scarcely field a team during their week-long tour of the United States and Canada, relying heavily on youngsters with little or no first-team experience.
Stranded in Chicago by a lightning storm en route from their last game in Edmonton, the players had just four hours sleep the night before Saturday's game with DC United and with no time to train for three days.
As if that wasn't bad enough, 14 bags went missing, including the one containing their kit, meaning they had to play Saturday's game in a strip borrowed from their hosts.
"Probably that result summed up the tour for us really - it has been extremely tough," Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill told reporters.
"The time it took us to get here, we could have flown to Australia," a furious Cotterill told Reuters after the game.
Then goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown, trying to earn a new contract after the departure of David James, went off injured after colliding with a team-mate during Saturday's game, to add to Cotterill's woes.
Pompey's weary players soon ran out of steam on the hottest day of the year in Washington, with the temperature reaching 38 degrees Celsius in the RFK Stadium.
As that wasn't bad enough, three players were sent off, including Portsmouth's Hayden Mullins, whose only offence was to get into an argument with DC United's Santino Quaranta, which Mullins admitted included "some swearing".
Cotterill called the refereeing "ridiculous" and "appalling".
"I can't believe he's been allowed to officiate a game," he said. "I've never seen anything like it in my life."
