Given how the last two Olympic qualifying cycles have gone, the U.S. U-23 men's national team will take it.
A laborious 1-0 win over Costa Rica at Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Thursday won't win many style points and won't have many fawning over the product, but the three points are all that matters, and those belong to Jason Kreis's charges as they try to punch the USA's ticket to this summer's Tokyo Olympics.
The U.S. men infamously haven't qualified for an Olympics since 2008. In order to snap that stretch of futility on the youth level, they must finish first or second in their four-team group in the eight-team Concacaf competition and then win their semifinal matchup against a top-two finisher from the other group in the brief knockout phase.