The USA Continues on the Road to the World Cup

The USA advanced to the final round of qualifying for the 2014 (Men’s) World Cup last night with their 3-1 victory over Guatemala. The Yanks won their group, which was expected, though they put in several terrible performances along the way. The USA is still a favorite to grab one of the three automatic qualifying spots from the six-team final qualifying round, but it must be said that they go into the Hexagonal with poorer form than any of the other five teams aside from possibly Jamaica or Panama. The USA was able to skate through their first qualifying group with a makeshift roster (due in part to injuries and in part to head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s experimentation with different lineups) because of a lack of quality competition, but the level of play in the Hexagonal will be much more intense. The Yanks need to get their act together sooner rather than later.