The United States men's national team resumes World Cup qualifying this week with a home fixture vs. Honduras. Four days later, it visits Panama. From both games, points are desperately needed.
Since November, when the U.S. dropped its first two games in the final "Hexagonal" round of qualifying, it has had no choice but to look at the standings and accept the reality of the situation, which is that it currently languishes in last place and has a group-worst goal difference of -5.
But there has been more to the Americans' plight than just wins and losses; the last four months have also seen plenty of off-field turmoil.