What does history tell us about this year’s Hex?

The U.S. men’s national team starts the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying on Friday night in Columbus, Ohio against rivals Mexico. Then, they travel to San Jose, Costa Rica to face off with another perennial power on the continent. What does history tell us about the importance of this set of games?

Two games don’t decide the qualification process: The Hex is a ten game slog through the final round of qualifying. These two games won’t decide anything definitively, there’s way too much soccer to be played over the next year for that.

However, momentum is important at the start: In CONCACAF, you never want to be forced to go on the road to get wins. The U.S. does not want to dig a…