The most important USMNT match in two decades

The fate of the United States Men's National Soccer Team, U.S. Soccer and even American soccer is riding on the backs of this one, pivotal match tonight in Columbus, Ohio, against Guatemala. This is THE most important match the United States soccer team has played since becoming a regional power and actually thought of on the World Soccer stage--2002.

Why? Well, because of some uninspiring results against any decent competition in the semifinal round of CONCACAF's 2018 World Cup Qualifying, the USMNT only has 4 points after three matches and currently sit in third in Group C. Third is good enough to go home, nothing more. A total of one point in two (away) matches against Trinidad & Tobago and Guatemala.

But these results haven't all of a sudden turned bad, this is a trend since last summer's Gold Cup, where the USMNT lost to Jamaica in the semifinals--the first time the U.S. had ever lost to a Caribbean team at home--and failed to claim third-place. They continued in a Confederations Cup playoff loss to Mexico. And at the focal point of this demise is one man: Jürgen Klinsmann.

Klinsmann has been the biggest and most visible problem with this squad since the 2014 World Cup. His inability to pick a starting eleven he likes combined with his struggle to put players in positions to perform well have collided into a train wreck of epic proportions.

The fault lies with Klinsmann, in my opinion. We've never had a national team manager also serve as technical director of U.S. Soccer and now, we don't know what the combined position means. To whom is Klinsmann responsible? Especially with his contract running through 2018.

This match has much riding on it. It's not just a win-or-stay-home situation, it's the failure to move the momentum of soccer in the U.S. forward. A win keeps that momentum going--at least until September when our stomach ulcers return. Anything less puts the USMNT into turmoil.

Missing the 2018 FIFA World Cup would be devastating to soccer here in the U.S. We need to be in the World Cup. Our countrymen will watch it, but they'll find some other country to root for. Sure, we all have our favorite national team, but we need the U.S. to be there so we can all cheer for it.

We are now thought of as a country that plays soccer competitively. That much is for certain. No, we are not an international power, but for the better part of this century we have been a regional power. A loss tonight forfeits our claim to either of those titles.

We need a win to keep the sport growing in the U.S. We need a win to qualify for the World Cup.

This is almost as necessary as the 1989 match against Trinidad & Tobago--who we incidentally face on the final match day of this qualifying round--when we eeked out a 1-0 victory on the road.

The circumstances are almost the same. Then, we needed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup to justify our place in the world of soccer before hosting in 1994. Now, we need to qualify to stay considered a known entity in the world of international soccer.

We need to now reaffirm the hard work the men who played in the previous seven World Cup squads put in by winning tonight.