This past year has been something of a chastening year for U.S. Soccer within its own geographic region. There were the Gold Cup losses to Jamaica and Panama, the CONCACAF Cup loss to Mexico and the MLS teams being uniformly eliminated by Mexican opposition in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League.
And this last weekend offered further evidence that the U.S. in general still has a lot of work to do. Tuesday's emphatic victory over Guatemala in Columbus might have suggested normal service being resumed, but the debacle in Guatemala City that preceded it will probably hold a more indelible place in the memory of U.