The countdown to Azteca officially begins today for me, as we're just over a week away from the biggest game on the USMNT's 2009 World Cup qualification schedule. While I'm supremely excited for the match, I'd be lying if I said I was certain of anything other than a full effort by Bob Bradley's boys.

It's going to take more than a full effort to get a good result from the game; not only is history against Bob Bradley and the Americans, there are plenty of reasons to worry that have nothing to do with history and everything to do with the team's current form.

2009 Road Results

"Not good" would be the best way to sum up the USMNT's Hexagonal results on the road halfway through the round; a comeback draw in El Salvador and an utter thrashing by Costa Rica in San Jose mean that the Yanks haven't proved that they can play well in a hostile environments this year. Although El Salvador and Costa Rica's home field advantages are significant and shouldn't be underrated, they're nothing compared to that of El Tri. Mental resolve will be supremely tested next week, and there's no evidence, yet, that the Americans have it when it truly counts.

Key Players Not In Top Form

The showdown at Azteca comes at a time when most European clubs are still in its pre-season; this means that several key American players won't exactly be on top of their games when match time comes around. While that's true for Euro-based Mexican players as well, they have the luxury of home-field advantage and comfortable surroundings. The Americans likely to see the field who will certainly come in rusty include Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley (although 'Gladbach has opened their German Cup campaign), and several others. It will be down to training and carry-over from June's play to keep the American as the proverbial "well-oiled machine" (and even with the Confederations Cup, it's debatable if they ever were that).

Inconsistency Reigns

For every good performance the US has put in this year, there has been an equally poor one; the victory over Mexico in February was followed up by disappointing results in Central America. The two good results and reasonably good finals performance at the Confederations Cup was preceded by two of the worst games they had played all year. Time after time, Bob Bradley has come up short when it comes to getting the Americans to string together strong performance after strong performance. With the exterior issues of environment, smog, altitude and history staring them in the face, it's difficult for me to believe that they'll be able to push all of those factors aside and play to the best of their ability. Stacking up well-played matches just doesn't seem to be in the American makeup, whether your put that on Bob Bradley or on some endemic problem with the USMNT program.

An optimistic outlook is a fan's refuge, and his absolute right; it's easy to fall into the dream of pulling out a victory at Azteca, and I'm certainly not going to let it go completely. But the issues surrounding the game and this American trip to Mexico City make it tough to be positive of success.

If they do manage to win, it will be all the sweeter because they really shouldn't.

The odds were always going to be against the American, no matter the results from the Confederations Cup or the Gold Cup. The fact that the US surprisingly made the final of the former and fell flat on their faces against a Mexico "B" squad in the latter means little for their chances at Azteca. "Throw the records out the window" goes the cliche, and it certainly applies in this circumstance. The two nations' relative places in the qualifying round table is a non-factor.

Just a little over a week to go now, and as I work on my get-out-of-work early excuse, I find myself disappointed that I'm even bothered by the things I mentioned here. It would be much better if I could just shut off my brain, watch the match when it happens, and live-and-die with the Yanks as I always do.

Stay tuned throughout the lead-up to the game; there's bound to be more coming out of my over-active brain, and I promise it won't all be as depressing as this.