The United States Drops It's First Hex Match to Honduras, 2-1

The Hex, the last stage of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, began on Tuesday February 6th, and the United States got off to a bad start with a 2-1 loss to Honduras at the Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Due to the fact that I don't have beIN Sport on my provider and the fact that the match occurred while I was at my day job, I was not able to watch the match. I did listen to the radio feed out of Honduras, but my Spanish is far from adequate to fully understand what was going on. But, based on the comments and accounts of people who did watch the match, here is my impressions:

- The United States played like a team made up of players who played for their clubs over the weekend; flew to Miami; then flew to Honduras on Tuesday; barely had time to train and bond; and underestimated their opponent.

- The United States is striker deficient and Jurgen Klinsmann should have played Herculez Gomez.

- The existence of MLS has helped develop soccer talent across the CONCACAF region.

I did see a fair share of knee-jerk the sky is falling the US isn't going to qualify tweets yesterday, but let's be realistic here, this was the first match of the Hex, odds are the US was going to lose a couple road games. The hopes of reaching the World Cup finals in Brazil are not dashed for the US, there's plenty of time and matches left in this process.

Before some video from and after the match, here's the other CONCACAF results:

Panama 2 - 2 Costa Rica

Mexico 0 - 0 Jamaica

Highlights from the match:

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The Hex Starts Today - Prepare with a Look at the American Outlaws & USMNT Presser

The Hex, the last stage of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, begins today for the United States National Team with a match at Honduras in San Pedro Sula. The match begins at 3:00 p.m. central time this afternoon and will be aired on beIN Sport.

To get you ready for today's match, here's a story Fox Soccer Channel did about the American Outlaws, the newest group of US Soccer supporters:

As you can see, that piece was filmed in Houston in late January 2013 when the USMNT hosted Canada in a friendly, a rather uneventful friendly that ended in a 0-0 draw.

Here's a bonus video of a Jürgen Klinsmann press conference down in Honduras:

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Semifinals: US & Mexico Advance

Photo by Katy Umaña

Wednesday night a sold out crowd of over 70,000 soccer fans was on hand at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas for the semifinals of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, featuring the United States playing Panama and Mexico playing Honduras.

Just last week, the US had lost its first ever Gold Cup group stage match to Panama, so Wednesday featured a rematch between the two sides. On Tuesday, US players said they obviously wanted to win the semifinal match, but it wasn't an issue of revenge. In the end, it was native Texan Clint Dempsey who played the hero for the United States picking up the match's only goal in the 76th minute. Post-match audio from members of the USMNT can be heard in the most recent episode of The Zygo Soccer Report Podcast.

Mexico had been dominating the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup and going into it's Wednesday night match against Honduras it was expected that Mexico would win the match and advance to the final. Honduras, however, chose not to go quietly into that dark night and managed to hold Mexico to a 0-0 scoreline through the end of 90 minutes, sending the match to extra time. In the 92nd minute, Mexico's Jesús De Nigris finally broke the scoring drought, giving El Tri the lead, and ultimately the win. In the 98th minute, Javier "Chicharito" Hernández picked up the insurance goal for Mexico.

On Saturday, the United States and Mexico will meet at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California for the final. In 2009, the US lost to Mexico in the Gold Cup final, but this year a slot in the Confederations Cup is on the line and US has brought it's A team, but will that be enough to get by Mexico?

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Quarterfinals Night One: Honduras & Mexico Advance

The first night of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinals took place on Saturday at The New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey. Costa Rica and Honduras squared off in the night's first match, while Mexico faced Guatemala in the second match.

Honduras picked up the first goal of the night, early in the second half of the first match, thanks to Jerry Bengtson, but the lead didn't last long because Dennis Marshall scored for Costa Rica in the 55nd minute. The match stayed tied at 1-1 through the rest of regular time forcing it to be decided on penalty kicks. Honduras ended up winning on penalties, 4-2.

Early in the second match of the evening it looked like Mexico's hopes of advancing to the semifinals weren't as strong as expected because Carlos Ruiz scored for Guatemala in the 4th minute. Guatemala managed to hold its lead, but a halftime substitution for Mexico paid off as Jesús De Nigris scored in the 48th minute. In the 65th minute it was none other than Javier "Chicharito" Hernández who scored the winning goal for Mexico.

Mexico and Honduras will play each other at Reliant Stadium in Houston on Wednesday night.

Today, the United States will play Jamaica and Panama will face El Salvador.

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Night Eight: Another Shutout for Jamaica

Group B action wrapped up in Harrison, New Jersey on Monday night as Guatemala played Grenada and Honduras faced Jamaica.

Grenada has been giving Cuba a run for its money as the whipping boy for the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and Monday was no different as they gave up 4 goals to Guatemala while being unable to score a goal of their own. Guatemala's goals came from Jose Del Aguila in the 15th minute, Marco Pappa in the 21st minute, Carlos Ruiz in the 53rd minute, and Carlos Gallardo in the 58th minute. With its win, Guatemala advance to the quarterfinals.

The second night of the match, Jamaica v. Honduras, only saw one goal scored, but that's the only goal Jamaica needed to maintain its winning streak and advance to the quarterfinals. The goal came in the goal came in the 35th minute and there is some disagreement as to whether the goal was scored by Jamaica's Ryan Johnson, who plays for the San Jose Earthquakes in MLS, or whether it was an own goal off of Noel Valladares.

The Gold Cup's group stage ends Tuesday night in Kansas City as Canada faces a dangerous Panama and the United States seeks redemption against Guadeloupe.

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Night Five: Lucky Seven for Honduras

Friday night's gold cup action featured Group B action with Jamaica facing Guatemala and Grenada playing Honduras in Miami.

In the night's first match, Jamaica picked up a 2-0 victory against Guatemala thanks to a Demar Phillips brace in the second half. With two wins in its first two matches of the tournament, Jamaica has qualified for the quarterfinals and is proving to be the best Caribbean side in the 2011 Gold Cup.

Grenada, another Caribbean team, didn't fair well at all as they lost to Honduras, 7-1. Although Clive Murray picked up a goal for Grenada in the 18th minute, the "Spice Boys" never really had a chance, giving up three goals to Honduras in the first half and another four goals in the second half. Carlos Costly picked up a hat trick for Honduras with other goals coming from Jerry Bengtson, who picked up two, Walter Julián Martínez Ramos, and Alfredo Antonio Mejía Escobar.

Tonight's Gold Cup action takes place in Tampa and features Canada playing Guadeloupe and the United States facing Panama.