The United States won the Hexagonal with twenty points, while Mexico gave the best accounting in the second half of the competition, gaining 13 points out of a possible 15 after August. Honduras qualifies for the first time since 1982 (When the World Cup was a 24 team competition), and Costa Rica can feel hard done with 16 points yet being forced into a playoff with Uruguay.

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Some random thoughts on the US win and the upcoming game against Costa Rica

The Greatest US Win I Have Never Seen.  A lot has already been said about how absurd it was that this game was not broadcast to the average US fan, so there is no reason to continue to beat this dead horse.

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CONCACAF WORLD CUP QUALIFYING – ROUND 9
PREVIEW: HONDURAS vs UNITED STATES
It's the biggest week for World Cup qualifying and CONCACAF is not the exception. The United States, Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica are fighting for three spots to qualify directly while El Salvador still has an outside shot of coming away with the playoff spot. Click to continue reading...

Labor Day has come and gone, the sun is setting earlier, and, even here in Houston, the air contains a slight fall crispness. Yes, the Summer of Soccer is over, and what an interesting summer it has been. Back on Father's Day, like a Phoenix, the US National Team rose from the ashes of its first two group stage matches in the Confederations Cup to advance to the semifinals where it shocked the football world by easily beating Spain, which was ranked by FIFA as the top national team at the time.

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One of the interesting features of CONCACAF is how quickly some of the national teams go through coaches. Bob Bradley is the longest tenured coach of a major nation in the region while the US' opponents continue to react or dare I say over react to every result.

Costa Rica has sacked Rodrigo Kenton just days after a loss to El Salvador.

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With two relatively straight forward fixtures this week, the United States National Team is almost guaranteed to be leading the Hexagonal after this international break. But this will guarantee nothing, as the one time magic 15 point mark for World Cup qualification from CONCACAF is almost sure to be exceeded by four nations this cycle.

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While I was watching the USA loose to Mexico again on Wednesday, something struck me. It is clear from the Hexagonal Concacaf World Cup qualifiers that the USA is not the dominant team in the region. We may be the best (or one of the best), but not dominant by any measurement.
Mexico used to be dominant in every way in Concacaf until we developed over the last thirty years into a serious threat. Click to continue reading...

I know that there were a number of US Soccer fans who were ready to jump off the Bob Bradley bandwagon after the past month, looking at medicore perfromances in three of our last four CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, and two losses at the FIFA Confederations Cup - despite being a man down in each match for long stretches. Click to continue reading...

Are you fearing for your marriage yet? Just too much soccer going on? If you haven't looked yet all of the following will be going on this summer, US Open Cup, FIFA Confederations Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup, CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, SuperLiga, friendlies with Chelsea, FC Barcelona, Guadalajra, Everton, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Club America amongst others. Click to continue reading...

It's become fashionable to assume Mexico is in jeopardy of missing the World Cup. But are they really? The United States also still runs the risk of slipping to the 4th position in qualifying. The truth is when you objectively analyze qualifying very little separates the top four sides.

Each of the top four nations have taken every possible point at home and each has taken zero points against the other top 4 nations on the road.

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No Suazo = No Hope for Honduras?

For all the spinning going on in US Soccer circles the last few days' minimal attention has been paid to the opponent tonight, Honduras, and their own woes. While Honduras still has Amado Guevara and Carlo Costly at full speed, Wilson Palacios will be playing the first match since the tragic death of his brother, while David Suazo, perhaps the most skilled player in CONCACAF, and Julio De Leon an outstanding midfielder from Parma in Serie A will miss the match due to injury and suspension respectively.

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Costa Rican football has undergone a transition with the star players who led the Ticos to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup largely moving on and fresher blood coming in. Some of the fresh faces in Costa Rica's setup are not all that young however.

The generation of Wanchope, Medford, Fonseca, etc have given way to players of lesser stature and largely playing in the Costa Rican domestic league.

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Freddy Adu & Pele

On Saturday in Monaco, A.S. Monaco beat Stade Rennes, 3 to 1, giving Monaco 40 points on the season thus far and securing a spot in the middle of the French Ligue 1 table. Sitting on Monaco's bench, was one Freddy Adu, watching his team take on a Rennes' squad that included the captain of the US National Team, Carlos Bocanegra.

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Reuters Photo Bob Bradley shook up the US lineup entering tonight's must win qualifier in Nashville against Trinidad and Tobago. The squad responded with a 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago. But I will preface the analysis of the match with the fact that T&T created more chances than they should have considering Dwight [. Click to continue reading...

The empire strikes back could have been the headline for Saturday as Mexico beat nemesis Costa Rica to reclaim a little bit of lost mojo. But now Mexico must go to Honduras and slay another dragon, in the form of traditional Mexican killer Carlos Pavon. Pavon's international career has been on the rocks of late not [. Click to continue reading...

Mexico-Costa Rica 6pm ET, TELEMUNDO Sven Goran Eriksson's seat could not get any hotter. Published reports in the Mexican media indicate the FMF would have already sacked the Swede if not for the exorbitant salary buyout the Federation would be forced to pay for any early firing. Gio Dos Santos, Carlos Vela, Rafa Marquez and Carlos Salcido [. Click to continue reading...