The first two games of the CONCACAF Hexagonal - the final round of 2018 World Cup Qualifying games for our region - have come and gone for the US Men's National Team. They did not go well for the USA. Jurgen Klinsmann's side lost to both Mexico and Costa Rica: the first time the USMNT has lost two qualifiers in a row since the team got back into the habit of actually qualifying for World Cups.
For fans of a team that has played at the last seven World Cups, the poor start to qualifying for the 2018 competition is an unwelcome throwback to the barren 40-year interlude between USMNT's appearance at the 1950 tournament and its re-appearance on soccer's biggest stage in 1990.