In about two weeks we're going to know an awful lot about the U.S. National Soccer Team's chances of playing in the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Three games in to their 10-game qualifying campaign, the U.S. sits in fourth place out of the six finalists remaining in North America. 
The top three qualify automatically, while the fourth-place team enters a two-legged home-and-home playoff with New Zealand. While winnable, the United States has never been forced to enter the playoff, having always finished in the top three under the current format and actually finishing as the top qualifier for 2006 and 2010.
Here's how it works. After a series of preliminary rounds which teams like the U.S. (ranked 28th in the world) and Mexico (17th) breeze through, they are joined by four other countries. This year, that's Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and Jamaica. Each team then plays two games against each other team - one at home, one on the road - earning three points for a win, one point for a tie.
The table as it stands right now:
|
Team
|
Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mexico |
4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 6 |
 Panama |
3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 5 |
 Costa Rica |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 |
 United States |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
 Honduras |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 4 |
 Jamaica |
4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 2 |
Tonight, the U.S. takes on last-place Jamaica in Kingston (9:30 p.m. ET), before returning to the States to host Panama in Seattle on Tuesday and then Honduras in Salt Lake City the week after. The U.S. has been nearly invincible at home in World Cup qualifiers. They have won every single game they've played in the last four campaigns, including this one, save for two. Their last loss was back in qualification for the 2002 World Cup. They ran the table at home in 2006 qualifiers, and nearly did the same in the 2010 qualifiers before their B-team tied a desperate Costa Rica squad in the last game.
But desperate is the perfect word to describe Jamaica, stuck in last place with just two points in four games. They lost to Mexico on Tuesday, and then must travel to Tegucigalpa, Honduras next Tuesday. Failure to emerge from from tonight's game with at least a point, preferably three, would pretty much be curtains for their already weak World Cup hopes.
[caption id="attachment_290" align="alignleft" width="360" caption="Playing on the road: U.S. star Landon Donovan is showered with debris as he prepares to take a corner kick in Mexico."]
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While the U.S. is, to a man, a better team, Jamaica pulled off a stunning upset nine months ago when they knocked off the U.S. in a qualifying match last round. It was the only match the U.S. lost in that round. But playing matches of this magnitude on the road in soccer-crazed Central America always poses trouble. The Mexican team once famously turned down a prime time kickoff and a lucrative TV payout to instead host the U.S. team at high noon in the smoggy heat of Mexico City. Team USA is just 5-5-7 (W-D-L) in road qualifiers in the last four campaigns, 0-1-1 this year. Three points on the road is respectable anywhere, but tonight in Kingston it's also be the expectation for the U.S. A draw would be acceptable, but a loss would raise some serious red flags and put a lot of pressure on this U.S. squad for their two home games next week.
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