U.S. men's soccer team desperate for win

This wasn't part of the game plan.

The United States is supposed to be well past the days of struggling just to qualify for a FIFA World Cup out of the CONCACAF region.

Still, instead of making the anticipated swing toward greater international respect coming out of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the United States senior men's national soccer team finds itself in virtual two-game must-win situation when CONCACAF qualifying for Russia 2018 resumes on Friday.

After losing at home against Mexico and getting blown out in Costa Rica in the first two matches, the USA has zero points and is last among six teams in the Hexagonal.

After the 4-0 loss to Costa Rica, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who had set the agenda for the program for the previous five years, was sacked and replaced by Bruce Arena, who had led the United States to World Cup appearances in 2002 and 2006.

And if things weren't already in turmoil, veteran goal keeper Tim Howard elected to question the commitment of the dual-national players to the United States cause just before the start of Arena's first training camp in January.

German-born midfielder Jermaine Jones, whose 68 caps for the USA ranks sixth on the current roster, called Howard's comments "dangerous stuff," but not as dangerous as the situation the USA finds itself in.

It's not going to be lights out if the USA does not beat Honduras in San Jose, Calif. on Friday and get the maximum three points but it would dim its hopes of qualifying for the World Cup.

The United States needs points out of this game and the one in Panama on March 28 – preferably the maximum of six but definitely at least four to reclaim a positive vibe.

There is no time for blame games or internal bickering. The how-and-why of Team USA being in this predicament isn't important now.

The only thing that matters is that Arena gets a group of underachievers who have lost their way to pick up their shovels, bend their backs and start digging themselves out of the hole they created.

That's why the 26-man roster Arena has selected for the matches against Honduras and Panama is interesting.

It is heavy on players from Major League Soccer with 19 coming from the United States top-flight domestic league. (Alejandro Bedoya is the only Philadelphia Union player on the U.S. roster.)

This isn't a sign that Arena is against dual-citizen players, although he has made his own controversial statements about them in the past.

This is about Arena, who coached in MLS for the past decade before returning to the national team, hitching his wagon to players he is familiar with in a high-stakes situation.

Because FIFA did not require professional teams to release USA players, the 32 players at the January camp were all from MLS.

Of the 26 players on the roster for Friday's game, just four – defenders John Brooks, Geoff Cameron and Tim Ream plus midfielder Christian Pulisic – currently play for teams based in Europe.

They were initially joined by Germany-based midfielder Fabian Johnson and striker Bobby Wood, but they had to withdraw because of injuries.

England-based goalkeeper Brad Guzan was also on the squad at first, but  withdrew because his wife gave birth to the couple's second child.

All of the players added as replacements come from MLS: goalkeeper David Bingham, defender Matt Besler, midfielders Sacha Kljestan and Graham Zusi, and forward Chris Wondolowski.

The three players from Mexican clubs on the U.S. roster - defenders Omar Gonzalez, Michael Orozco and Jorge Villafaña - spent time in MLS while Arena was coaching in the league. So did Cameron and Ream.

Howard, DaMarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey were members of Arena's 2006 World Cup squad. Team captain Michael Bradley earned his first two caps for the USA in 2006 when Arena called him up for friendlies.

Gonzalez and midfielder Sebastian Lletget played for Arena with the Galaxy at some point.

Brooks and Pulisic are the only players on the roster who have not played for or against Arena in MLS.

By the time the next round of the CONCACAF Hexagonal begins in June, Arena will have had time to properly scout the United States players based in Europe and the roster for those qualifiers might not be so heavily connected to his personal history.

But right now, Arena is faced with getting immediate results after just four months on the job. It's only natural that he would put his trust primarily in players that he knows best.