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USA Made it into the Hexagonal; Here are the Next WCQ Dates

After a convincing latter 80 minutes, the USA successfully pulled through to make it into the final round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying: the Hexagonal.

By Geoff Gibson
Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

And everybody could once again breathe easily.

I won't lie. I was seriously worried there for a few days. The USMNT just hasn't been a dynamic offensive side lately and their defense has always seemed to be lacking. The combination seemed to put them on the brink of World Cup disqualification... something that hasn't happened since 1986 when CONCACAF had but a singular pot in the World Cup.

Luckily for us, however, the USMNT pulled through and delivered an amiable performance after the first 10 minutes. Up until that point it was pretty much all swears and curses in my house. While the defense still needs some additional work, the offense seemed to really click thanks to the likes of Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Herculez Gomez and ... err ... Eddie Johnson.

So what's next for the USMNT? Well there's one final round to deal with, called the Hexagonal. Here's how it works:

There are six teams left over from the three previous groups. Those teams would be:

  • USA
  • Mexico
  • Costa Rica
  • Jamaica
  • Panama
  • Honduras
Those teams will then play each other twice each: once at home and once away. The top three teams will gain an automatic berth into the 2014 World Cup. The fourth place team will play against the top team from the Oceania in a two game (home and away) tournament for a spot. So essentially the fourth place CONCACAF team and New Zealand.

All of these games will be played between February 6th and October 15th in 2013. Stars and Stripes FC put together these dates for us:

  • February 6
  • March 22 and 27
  • June 7 and 11
  • August 21
  • September 6 and 10
  • October 11 and 15
With the double dates probably being home and away games for each team.

So what do you think? Excited for next year's final qualifying round? Do you think the USMNT will be able to put on a better, more confidence-inspiring effort? What spot do you think they will end up in this time next year?

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