The journey taken by the United States men's national team during 2019 has had a few stumbles.
There was the Gold Cup final defeat to Mexico, as well as was month's CONCACAF Nations League defeat to Canada, the U.S. team's first against its northern neighbor in 34 years. The questions of what the American's preferred style is -- and how various players should be placed within it -- remains open.
And yet, with one game remaining in 2019, the U.S. is poised to achieve one of its goals. Thanks to Friday's 4-1 win over Canada in the return fixture, a win by any margin on Tuesday against Cuba will be enough for the Americans to progress to the semifinals of the Nations League next summer.