After many failures, U.S. men’s soccer aims again for Olympic berth

U.S. soccer’s greatest embarrassment in recent times was the men’s national team failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, snapping a string of seven successive appearances.

Since reaching the 2000 semifinals in Sydney, the United States has qualified for the Summer Games once — a baffling drought for an organization that, based on sheer resources and player options, should almost always represent the second-rate region.

Starting Thursday in Guadalajara, Mexico, the Americans will take another crack at it, competing in an eight-nation Concacaf tournament that sends two teams to Japan.

To qualify, they will need to finish first or second in a group that also includes Costa Rica, the Dominican…