The national team must always be in the rudest of health. There’s no shop window like the World Cup. A Panama win – it would be a first on American soil – would seal the third automatic qualification spot and send Hernan Dario Gomez’s side to the World Cup finals for the first ever time. The significance, and potential ramifications, aren’t lost on the man who memorably led the US to the World Cup last eight in 2002. For all his MLS titles and successes with the national team, missing out on the World Cup for the first time since 1986 would forever stain his copybook.

Source: The Guardian October 06, 2017 09:00 UTC