World Cup Qualifying News - USA Gets Valuable Points

The USMNT Win at Home, Get Draw on the Road

The US Men's National Team gained four valuable points in their last two games of World Cup Qualifiers against Costa Rica and Mexico.

The qualification process in the Caribbean and North/Central American region consists of one group of six teams, where the top three advance to the world cup after a series of games between every team.

USA played Costa Rica on March 22nd 2013, at home in Denver and won 1-0 in blizzard conditions. Grounds people worked throughout the entire game at keeping lines clear so the game could go on. At every stoppage of play, workers ran onto the field with snow shovels to clear the important lines. It was a game to remember because of the incredible conditions.

If you missed that game, you can still watch the highlights of America's snowy win over Costa Rica on YouTube.

After that crucial home win over Costa Rica, The Americans had the difficult task of going to Mexico and trying to get points against the very good Mexican national team. To put it into perspective, in all the World Cup qualifying matches USA had played in Mexico, they had never won, and only even tied Mexico once!

But in that now historic game played on March 26th, 2013, the US Men's National Team got a wonderful 0-0 tie, grabbing a valuable road point.

Current Standings for the USA and others after Three Games

This puts the USMNT in 3rd place in a very tight table. But four points in three games is not bad as long as they continue to win at home, and get points here and there on the road. The US will play next in June, so look forward to those games in the future on the road to World Cup 2014!

USMNT Head Into World Cup Qualifiers Minus Key Starters

The USMNT Will Be Missing Several Important Players for their Upcoming Games
As two big World Cup Qualification games loom just days away, the US team is forced to go without several key players.

The US will take on Costa Rica on Friday, Match 22, and Mexico on Tuesday, March 26th in two key games for World Cup 2014 qualifications.

Unfortunately for the US, they will be without a handful of their usual starters, including Carlos Bocanegra and Goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Howard, who has been a vital part of the USMNT for several years and a major reason for several of their recent big wins, suffered a back injury but is expected to return for his club, Everton, in early April.

This leaves a gap between the goal posts for US coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who choose Brad Guzan as the replacement.

Guzan is an easy pick to replace the missing Howard, as his high level of play have been on display at Aston Villa, where he is the starting 'keeper, and gaining a fair amount of positive attention.

But the question will remain as the US takes on Costa Rica and Mexico, is there enough depth to get points out of these games, especially the must win against Costa Rica?

The USMNT will play Costa Rica on Friday, March 22nd at 10:30 EST Live on ESPN.

Don't miss out on cheering them on!

World Cup 2014 - First Hexagonal Matches Played

USMNT Losses in First Hexagonal Match for World Cup 2014 Qualification 

The Caribbean, North and Central American qualification group for World Cup 2014 has been narrowed down to just 6 teams who will battle it out to qualify for the upcoming World Cup.

On February 6th, 2013, the first match in this final stage of qualification was played as the US went south to play Honduras.

Honduras came back from a goal down to beat the US 2-1 and gain 3 valuable points in the group.

Clint Dempsey got his 31st career goal for the USMNT in the first half, giving the Americans a 1-0 lead. But that lasted only minutes as Honduras tied the game just before halftime. 

In the second half, Honduras managed to grab another goal, which proved enough to win the game for them.

Although this was not a good start for World Cup Qualifications, this was only the first of a number of games to be played over the next 6 months to determine who will advance from the group.

World Cup 2014 Qualification Standings after Match 1 for the Hexagonal:

Standings for Hexagonal World Cup Qualifiers 

While the USA does sit at the bottom with zero points, they are fortunate that both Mexico vs Jamaica, and Panama vs Costa Rica ended in draws, leaving only Honduras with a full 3 points.

The US will play Costa Rica next at the end of Match, followed by a game against Mexico a week later.

With a their first game ending in a disappointing loss, the US will have to work very hard to win their next few matches or else face an even more dismal situation; not qualifying for World Cup 2014.

International Break - World Cup Qualification

This weekend, October 12th-16th, is an International Break for club soccer teams in order for national teams to play two games in World Cup Qualification for Rio 2014.

Club Soccer, including the English Premier League and Major League Soccer will return next week.

While the European World Cup Qualification games usually get most of the press, the USA in CONCACAF qualifying are trying to make some good news for themselves.

They are currently in a three way tie with Guatemala and Jamaica, each with 7 points.

Only the winner will advance, with the 2nd place in the group going into a playoff with the second place teams from the other groups.

The USMNT plays Antigua and Barbuda on October 12th away from home, and will then play at home in Kansas, against Guatemala on Tuesday the 16th. (USA v Guatemala will be live on ESPN2, and ESPN3.com)

The US will be hoping, and expecting to win both games, but as the last Olympic qualification process showed us, nothing is secure, with the US failing to qualify for London 2012.

There are quite a few European Qualification Games going on. These usually consist of huge mismatches between soccer sharks and minnows. But the games can have surprises, and almost always present an entertaining game.

ESPN3.com offers many of these games streamed live online for free. Visit espn.go.com/watchespn to view all available games.

Coming up on Tuesday, October 16th at 2:55 ET, France will play Spain in an unusual match up of two fantastic national soccer teams challenging for top spot in their qualification group.

More to come soon on the USMNT World Cup Qualification results.

International Break for FIFA World Cup 2014 Quealifications

This past weekend (September 7-11th) is an international break from club soccer for national teams to have an opportunity to play a few games in the group stage of the World Cup 2014 qualification.

For many European teams, these are some of the first national team games since the Euro Cup in which Spain put on a dominating performance in the final winning it 4-0 over Italy.

There are quite a few interesting match-ups in World Cup 2014 qualification where teams are placed in groups, and the top two usually advance from the group.

Often the games are David and Goliath battles, with large soccer countries taking on much smaller countries. But the Davids rarely win.

A few of the notable games already played include:

England 5-0 Moldova
Germany 3-0 Faroe Islands
Italy 2-2 Bulgaria
Netherlands 2-0 Turkey
Jamaica 2-1 USA

Visit the FIFA Website for more on World Cup Qualification Games.

USA Loses to Jamaica 2-1

In a surprising game in Jamaica, USA lost to Jamaica 2-1 in World Cup Qualifying.

After an early goal by Clint Dempsey, Jamaica scored two beautiful free-kicks to win the game.

Clint Dempsey's goal was scored in the 1st minute of play, and set a new record for fastest goal scored by the US in World Cup play.

The Jamaicans responded with two free-kicks, one in each half, that beat Tim Howard and gave Jamaica a valuable 5 points.

This leaves USA in a must win situation when the play Jamaica again on September 11th. This game will be played at home for the US and they will look to get the full three points as they strive to get to the top of their group.

USA's World Cup Qualifications Current Standings (9/11/12)

Jamaica is the surprise leader of the group after 3 games played.

• Jamaica - 7 Points
• Quatermala - 4 Points
• USA - 4 Points
• Antigua and Barbuda - 1 Point

With only the top two teams advancing, the US will have to start winning if it wants to avoid serious abuse from fans for not qualifying for the World Cup 2014.

Tonight (9/11), the US will have an opportunity to get three points as it plays Jamaica at home in Columbus Ohio. The game will be live at 8pm on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.

Be sure to watch and cheer on the USMNT!