ST. PAUL, Minn.— Enveloped by absurd, historically low temperatures that left many questioning the sanity of simply playing the game, the U.S. men’s national team enjoyed a timely thaw in a long-dormant component of its attack on Wednesday night in the Twin Cities. And with it, came a warming of its World Cup prospects.
Qualifying difficulties always seem to come as a surprise, even though you could set your quadrennial calendar to them. Negotiating the Concacaf gauntlet is never as easy as pedigree and predictions suggest it should be, and adversity is inevitable. A lot of the recent consternation surrounding the U.