Games to Watch: U.S. men's national team begins World Cup qualifying

This week's column focuses on the start of the semifinal round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying - a.k.a. the round at which all the big nations enter.

We shouldn't completely overlook other notable games going on around the world, especially a some huge South American World Cup qualifiers. Argentina hosts Brazil on Friday (7:00 p.m., beIN Sports) and visits Colombia on Tuesday (3:30 p.m., beIN Sports Español), and later on Tuesday Uruguay hosts Chile (6:00 p.m., beIN Sports Español).

In Europe, there are European Championshp qualifying playoff games and a slew of international friendlies. Click here for the full schedule.

But there are so many big CONCACAF games - and just as importantly, so many televised CONCACAF games - that I think it's worth giving those contests the full spotlight.

For those wondering about TV rights: ESPN and Fox split U.S. home games in English; Univision has U.S. and Mexico home games in Spanish; all other games are held by beIN Sports (English) and Telemundo/NBC Universo (Spanish).

St. Vincent and the Grenadines at United States

6:30 p.m. Friday (ESPN2, UniMás)

America's road to the 2018 World Cup in Russia officially begins at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, a historic soccer hotbed despite its current lack of a MLS team. The city which produced Harry Keough, Frank Borghi, Taylor Twellman and Tim Ream first welcomed the U.S. national team in 1957, and was the site of five World Cup qualifying games in the 1980s. Its last turn in the spotlight came in 1997 for a friendly against Paraguay.

Complain if you want about watching a soccer game on a baseball field, but it's better than the tiny venue in suburban Fenton that hosted those previous contests. The Cardinals even took down the foul poles for the first time in their home's 10-year history in order to give fans in attendance a better view of the action.

As for what happens once the whistle blows, St. Vincent isn't much of an opponent. Its captain, Darren Hamlett, works full time as a Coast guard officer and plays soccer on the side. Its best player, forward Cornelius Stewart, plays for a Finnish team that just reached the nation's first division for the first time in its history.

Yet this is unquestionably the most pressure-packed game for U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann since his team came home from Brazil last year. Only a blowout will calm the increasingly vocal critics who've been waiting for much of Klinsmann's six-year tenure to see the attractive, intelligent style of soccer he has long promised.

Klinsmann hasn't brought much new blood into the team either, as evidenced by the presence of veterans Kyle Beckerman, Alan Gordon and Jermaine Jones on the current roster. There is, however, a ray of hope in Darlington Nagbe - a tremendously skilled Liberian-American playmaker who just gained U.S. citizenship after five electrifying years in Major League Soccer. Matt Miazga, a 20-year-old centerback, is another prospect with great potential.

The spotlight will be on Nagbe above all, because the national team has sorely lacked a player with his creative ability in recent times. If he lives up to the potential - the odds of which would increase if Klinsmann finally drops his habit of playing his best players out of their natural positions - it would give the U.S. team a huge boost.

Trinidad & Tobago at Guatemala

7:30 p.m. Friday (NBC Universo, beIN Sports Connect)

Once the U.S. game ends, take the opportunity to see the other two teams in the United States' qualifying group (the top two advance to the final round). Seattle's Marco Pappa and Dallas' Moisés Hernandez lead Guatemala against a Soca Warriors squad that features Columbus' Kevan George and Cardiff City's Kenwyne Jones.

Panama at Jamaica

9:00 p.m. Friday (beIN Sports, NBCDeportes.com)

Union goalkeeper Andre Blake plays one of the biggest games of his career as the Reggae Boyz host the team that came up just barely short of reaching the 2014 World Cup. Panama's attack is led by burly Dallas striker Blas Pérez and San Jose midfielder Anibal Godoy.

Mexico at Honduras

4:00 p.m. Tuesday (beIN Sports, Telemundo)

Even though Honduras isn't as good as it used to be, this game will rightly command a marquee spotlight. Houston's Óscar Boniek García and Luis Garrido will hope to help los Catrachos upset a star-studded Mexican squad that features Javier Hernández, Andrés Guardado and Carlos Vela.

United States at Trinidad & Tobago

6:00 p.m. Tuesday (beIN Sports, NBC Universo)

Four months ago, T&T played Mexico to a thrilling 4-4 draw in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. They'll try to recapture that magic as the U.S. visits Port of Spain's venerable Hasley Crawford Stadium for the first time in six years. It's a testament to the Soca Warriors' recent rise that a draw or win wouldn't be a huge upset. But American fans won't be in a forgiving mood if their team suffers a setback.

Canada at El Salvador

8:30 p.m. Tuesday (beIN Sports, NBC Universo)

Canada has been a soccer laughingstock for much of the time since its only ever World Cup appearance in 1986. That's finally starting to change now, thanks to groundwork laid (whether or not diehard fans want to admit it) by Major League Soccer. The current team features the two most recent MLS rookies of the year, forwards Tesho Akindele (Dallas) and Cyle Larin (Orlando), and an improving defense anchored by Karl Ouimette (New York Red Bulls).

Unfortunately, the Reds are stuck in a brutal group with Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador. They host Honduras on Friday in Vancouver (tape-delayed at 11 p.m. on Univision Deportes), then head south for this big road test. La Selecta's squad is almost all players from the nation's domestic league, in part because top players such as Orlando's Darwin Céren are on strike to demand better pay and working conditions.