The first thing to keep in mind, when considering the U.S. national soccer team losing tonight at Costa Rica is …

The U.S. never wins in Costa Rica.

The Yanks didn’t win there when the U.S. was a second-rate soccer country. And they do not win when they are ranked No. 20 in the world, as they are now. Or when they are ranked No. 14, as they were in 2009, when they lost in San Jose.

The Ticos should never be underestimated, and the U.S. certainly does not, which is a wise way to approach this. The Yanks now are 0-8-2 all-time there. Respect, however, had never led to a victory there, and you almost wonder if the U.S. was too cautious, early.

Costa Rica considers itself the Brazil of North America, and when it comes to winning at home … they pretty much are Brazil. (Check this 2009 entry; same score, and it looked even worse.)

Two early goals by the Ticos, who are still steamed over the Snow Bowl, back in Denver, pretty much determined this one. Even with Landon Donovan back on the field, the U.S. never got closer than 2-1, on Clint Dempsey’s penalty … then conceded a counter-attack goal in the second half after being caught upfield trying to salvage a tie. And that was that.

What matters now?

In terms of the 2014 World Cup … Job 1 is defeating Mexico in Columbus on Tuesday.

This is another Cocacaf/hexagonal tradition: Mexico hates playing in Columbus and rarely does well there. Even Mexico’s good teams and, apparently, the current Mexico is not a good team.

The real shock in Concacaf tonight was this one from Azteca: Honduras 2, Mexico 1.

Remember when Mexico never lost in Azteca? Except, maybe, to Brazil? (And then Spain.) And now they can’t beat Honduras there?

It cost Mexico’s coach his job, as well it should, but it makes the U.S. defeat less scary. The Americans are still five points north of fourth place, where Mexico currently resides, looking at the possibility of a playoff with New Zealand, the Oceania champion, to get to Brazil 2014.

And the U.S. is six points north of fifth place (Panama), and fifth in the hexagonal means you are done till 2018 qualifying begins.

With three games to play.

The Mexico game is a little more difficult because the U.S. presumably will play without Michael Bradley (whom Landon said “might be our most important player”, from the perspective of organizing the team from midfield) as well as Jozy Altidore, who has two yellow cards.

The final two qualifiers, next month, are home (in Kansas City) against last-place Jamaica on October 11, and away to Panama on October 15, and both teams may be mathematically eliminated when they play the Yanks. About as easy as games could be, that is.

The reality is that Concacaf has at least one World Cup berth too many; 3.5 cannot really be justified when Europe gets only 13 but has all but two (Brazil, Argentina) of just about the 20 best teams in the world. (Fifa rankings aside.) For that matter, South America’s 4.5 is too many, too.

So, the U.S. is in fine shape, even with a draw with Mexico. A loss to El Tri, however … well, maybe you might want to get out your worry beads