United States Falls to Honduras 2-1

The final round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, known as the Hexagonal round, or Hex for short kicked off today. The United States did not not get off to a good start in the Hex today, Losing on the road 2-1 to Honduras. The US took the lead in the 36th minute on a Clint Dempsey goal, but surrendered the lead just four minutes later on an incredible bicycle kick goal by Juan Carlos Garcia. There was nothing Tim Howard could do to stop that goal. The teams headed into halftime tied 1-1. With 11 minutes to go in the match, The United State's defense broke down  allowing an easy match winner set up an easy winner for Jerry Bengtson on an empty net after Howard had to come off his line. After the game winner  Honduras spent the rest of the match time wasting, in the usual manner most CONCACAF teams do whenever they have a positive result lined up by embellishing "injuries" and taking a long time on free kicks and throw ins.

While today's loss is disappointing, it is certainly not devastating. Road losses in the Hex are expected and there are still nine games remaining before the end of qualifying. There were also a couple of positives to come out of today, first off, Sulani Gulati said that Landon Donovan is not retiring and he was just taking a hiatus. He said that he fully expects Landon to be back on the pitch wearing the Red, White, and Blue soon. Also after starting today, Timmy Chandler is now Cap-Tied to the United States, ending the guessing game of will he stay or will he go. Now in order to qualify, the United States must capitalize on their home fixtures and steal some points on the road. There next match is on March 22, at home, now a must win game for the United States before travelling to Mexico to play in Azteca one of the most difficult places to steal a point. In  order to prevent themselves from falling into a huge hole, making it very difficult to qualify, the United States must get three points against Costa Rica.

The United States full Hex schedule is as follows:

February 6th at Honduras L 2-1
March 22nd vs Costa Rica
March 26th at Mexico
June 7th at Jamaica
June 11th vs Panama
June 18th vs Honduras
September 6th at Costa Rica
September 10th vs Mexico
October 11th vs Jamaica
October 15th at at Panama

The top 3 teams automatically qualify for the 2014 world cup while the fourth place team plays the Oceania champion in a playoff and the winner of that also qualifies for the World Cup. Provided the United States plays like they are capable, they shouldn't have a problem qualifying for the World Cup, although they likely won't win the Hex like they did in 2010 qualifying, they should come in second behind Mexico.