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WASHINGTON -- Three thoughts after the U.S.' 2-2 tie with Costa Rica in the final Hexagonal game of World Cup qualifying:

• The U.S. does not know how to give up. Down 2-0 midway through the second half, the Americans scored twice in the final 23 minutes, capped by Jonathan Bornstein's stunning 95th-minute header, to secure a remarkable tie. The comeback forced Costa Rica into a playoff with Uruguay next month and catapulted Honduras (a 1-0 winner at El Salvador) into its first World Cup since 1982. In a week when the U.S. was shocked by the tragic auto accident involving forward Charlie Davies, this was only a sporting moment. But it was a special one which called to mind the U.S.' amazing comeback against Egypt in June's Confederations Cup. If the U.S. is to go on a deep run in South Africa next year, it will need to continue having this kind of never-quit attitude, which is infectious.

• René Simões went mental. I was just about ready to hail Costa Rica's new Brazilian coach for being the Ticos' Mr. Fix-It when he lost his mind in the final minutes, complaining to the fourth official and drawing a red card. Simões' antics mean that he'll be suspended for Costa Rica's first playoff game against Uruguay next month. If you're a Costa Rica fan right now, you have to be upset over how your team went from first place to fourth in only four games.

• Oguchi Onyewu's injury looked scary. The hulking U.S. defender left the field after going down with an alarming non-contact injury in the 83rd minute. We'll have to wait for a postgame injury report, but Gooch was extremely agitated on the field after falling down awkwardly in the Costa Rica box going up for a header.

What are your thoughts after the game? Please post them below, and check back later for a post-interviews piece.

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras Three thoughts after the U.S.'s 3-2 victory against Honduras in Saturday's World Cup qualifier:

* The U.S. is World Cup-bound for the sixth straight time. In one of the most remarkable halves in U.S. Soccer history, the Americans overcame a 1-0 deficit and scored three times to silence 45,000 Hondurans who were hoping to celebrate the country's biggest win in nearly three decades. Granted, Honduras isn't Brazil, but the U.S. could have folded after giving up a brutal goal in the 46th minute much like the one it allowed to Brazil in the Confederations Cup final (a 3-2 loss). Instead, the Yanks found the resolve to keep pushing and run off three unanswered strikes by Conor Casey (two) and Landon Donovan (one). If you were ever going to question the U.S.'s heart, this World Cup-bound team answered those questions tonight.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- For a few minutes on Friday night, Honduran interim president Roberto Micheletti sounded happy to be talking with a reporter about something other than the political crisis which has engulfed his country.

Micheletti is a soccer fan, and tonight in San Pedro Sula, the Honduran national team plays its most important game in 27 years, a World Cup qualifier against the United States. If Honduras wins, it will almost certainly clinch a World Cup berth for the first time since 1982. And Micheletti, for his part, thinks his Catrachos will do more than just win.

"Honduras 4, United States 0!" Micheletti told me in Spanish. "The heart of the Hondurans is bigger than ever!"

Micheletti has a lot on his plate these days. With mediation from the Organization of American States, his aides met this week with representatives of Manuel Zelaya, who was deposed as president on June 28. Zelaya snuck back into Honduras on Sept. 21 and has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy here ever since. No other countries, including the U.S., have recognized Micheletti's regime.

Even though no resolution to the standoff has been reached, Honduras will put aside politics for 90 minutes tonight to support their national team. "Soccer unites all Hondurans," Micheletti explained during our 10-minute conversation, "without distinction among classes, political parties, religion or race. Soccer brings everyone together."

"We still remember our national team from 1982, and we Hondurans all live with the dream of returning to the World Cup. Let's hope that God gives us the opportunity to achieve this goal, which we'd do by beating the Gringos and the Salvadorans [on Wednesday]."

A fan of two Honduran clubs (Real España and Motagua) who says he still plays soccer once or twice a year, Micheletti won't be at the stadium tonight, but he did say that he would be watching the game in his living room at home. "I have to watch at home because I scream a lot at the TV," he said.

The de facto president is no dummy: He knows that a Honduras win tonight will be good from him politically. But he also seemed to be a genuine fan, naming off several of his favorite Honduran players, including Carlos Pavón, Carlos Costly, David Suazo and Ramón Núñez, and he seemed more than a little bullish about tonight's game.

"We have players from international clubs on our team, and therefore we have a lot of confidence, hope and faith that we will achieve this victory," he told me. "But I want to wish both teams luck, that they play a clean game and that for a moment we can forget any sadness [in the country] and enjoy a great soccer game."

And if Honduras qualifies for the World Cup? "I'll call a national holiday," said Micheletti. "We are going to celebrate!"

***

Friday was an odd day for me. One moment I was speaking with the man who runs Honduras, and another moment I was being robbed at gunpoint in Tegucigalpa.

My idea had been to drive from San Pedro Sula about 150 miles southeast to the capital, stopping to interview people along the way about the significance of the Honduran soccer team's success during a time of deep divisions within the country.

And that's exactly what I did. I spoke to businessmen in San Pedro Sula, gas-station workers in Comayagua and even a clown that I encountered on the side of the road in a dusty town outside Tegucigalpa. (The man, whose nom de clown is Chiquitón, said he'd be watching the game. He also said that he clowns at birthday parties, Christmas celebrations and even funerals.)

Along the way I discovered that Honduras is a beautiful country, with forest-green mountains, gorgeous lakes and friendly people.

Except, perhaps, for one. On Friday afternoon, I ventured to the embassy district of Tegucigalpa, where hundreds of gun-toting police have surrounded the Brazilian embassy (and its occupant Zelaya). The police chief gave me the clearance to interview some soccer-loving police officers, whose scowls melted into smiles as they talked of getting a few hours off from work to watch USA-Honduras.

After we finished, I started walking back to my car, which I had parked a few blocks away in what appeared to be a safe part of town a stone's throw from the U.S. embassy. And then, in broad daylight, with hundreds of police officers only a couple hundred yards away, a 20-something male ran up behind me, pulled out a gun, and threatened to kill me if I didn't give him my things.

I've had experience working in some hairy situations -- from a week in Nigeria to a drive across Mexico, from a story near the Israeli-Lebanese border to a road-trip with hardcore soccer fans in Argentina -- but I had never been threatened with a gun before.

I gave him my wallet and iPhone, and thankfully he disappeared down the aptly named Avenida de Paz (Peace).

But I did survive, chastened and a bit embarrassed. Interim president Micheletti apologized for the robbery and said that it no doubt was a Zelaya supporter.

Check back before and during tonight's game to Grant Wahl's live commentary from San Pedro Sula on Twitter.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Three thoughts after the U.S.' 1-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in Wednesday's World Cup qualifier:

• Underwhelming? Yes. But it's still six points. It's hard to imagine the U.S. performing much worse and still finding a way to get a huge six points from this week's two qualifiers against El Salvador and T&T, the two bottom-feeders of the Hex. The U.S. played a brutal first half, losing possession easily (often without much pressure at all) and letting T&T have the three best chances of the first 45. Not much improved in the second half, either, but Landon Donovan's penetrating run down the left side created space for him to lay off to Ricardo Clark, who has shown in the past that he can shoot from distance. (Copa América 2007, anyone?) Bottom line: With 16 points, the U.S. is in good shape to qualify for South Africa 2010 and doesn't have a must-win situation at Honduras on Matchday 9 next month. Good thing, though, because if they continue playing this way, the Yanks will have no chance in San Pedro Sula.

• Donovan is the U.S.' only consistent offensive threat these days. There's no way the Yanks would have gotten six points this week if it hadn't been for Donovan, who after years of going hot and cold has turned into a regular performer when the games matter most. Remember the '06 World Cup, when Donovan was often afraid to take on defenders with the ball at his feet? You just don't see that anymore. Clint Dempsey needs to turn into that type of player for the Americans. Dempsey seems out of synch with most of his teammates in the attack, and his reliance on tricks when they're not necessary often results in killer giveaways. What happened to the Dempsey that we saw during the second half of the Confederations Cup?

• It's still 2009, not 2010. If there's any solace for most U.S. fans, it's that how you perform in 2010 may have nothing to do with how you qualify for the World Cup. Would anyone have predicted that the U.S. (which finished third in qualifying for '02) would be a World Cup quarterfinalist a year later? That Brazil (which barely qualified for '02) would raise the trophy a year later? England fans will no doubt be sky-high after their team's 5-1 blowout of Croatia on Wednesday, but what does that say about England's chances in 2010? Perhaps very little. In the end, qualifying is about qualifying -- and then wiping the slate clean.

Thoughts on the game? Post them below and check back later for my post-press conference piece on SI.com.

Grant Wahl's New York Times Best Seller, The Beckham Experiment, is in bookstores everywhere. You can order it here. You can also find him on Twitter.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago -- It's tough to feel a sense of urgency when you're sitting in a luxury hotel overlooking the Caribbean Sea on a glorious late-summer afternoon. But it's still possible, especially if you're Tim Howard, the goalkeeper whose U.S. national team needs a victory in tonight's World Cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago (7 p.m. ET, ESPN Classic, TeleFutura) to feel good about its chances of reaching South Africa 2010.

"I've said it all along, you win your home games and you hope to pick up something on the road," Howard says. "But I think now the mindset has to change a little bit. For the four teams right now who are at the top of the group, I think we all would probably say we've got to go for it."

A U.S. tie here just won't cut it. Not when Mexico's surprising 3-0 win at Costa Rica on Saturday made a close four-team race for three automatic World Cup spots even tighter. Not when this is the easiest road venue in the Hexagonal. And not when a tie or loss would be a step back for a U.S. team that won its last qualifier here that mattered in 2005.

"We need to win this game," said Landon Donovan on Wednesday night. "Our last two are very difficult games [in October at Honduras and at home against Costa Rica]. This is a [T&T] team that is not mathematically out but likely out of it, and a team that we need to beat, clearly."

The U.S. figures to make a few changes from the lineup that beat El Salvador 2-1 on Saturday. Coach Bob Bradley said Oguchi Onyewu will return to the central defense after serving a one-game yellow-card suspension. Onyewu has been training with the team all week, and Bradley said he's not concerned that the AC Milan player hasn't played a competitive game since the U.S.-Mexico qualifier almost a month ago.

Bradley has a couple of options for the rest of the back line. He could use Chad Marshall in the center next to Onyewu and put Carlos Bocanegra on the left, but I suspect Bocanegra will play in the center, leaving Bradley with a decision: Does he continue on the left with Jonathan Bornstein, who struggled on Saturday? Or does he move Jonathan Spector from the right side to the left (where he plays for West Ham) and put Steve Cherundolo on the right?

That's what I suspect will happen, and we'll see (from left to right): Spector - Bocanegra - Onyewu - Cherundolo. If Spector does move to the left, it will be important for Cherundolo to show that his crosses can be just as dangerous as Spector's have been in recent months.

Otherwise, I think the only change we'll see is in the central midfield, where Ricardo Clark could return to the lineup replacing Benny Feilhaber. That would mean a midfield of: Donovan - Clark - Michael Bradley - Clint Dempsey.

Up top, I figure we'll again see Jozy Altidore and Charlie Davies, provided that Davies is O.K. after leaving the game on Saturday in the second half with a thigh contusion. "We needed to see how a few guys felt, Charlie being one of them," Bob Bradley said on Tuesday night after practice at Hasely Crawford Stadium. "Based upon the little that we did, guys seemed O.K. We'll see how they are later tonight and tomorrow and make final decisions. But the hope is we'll have everybody open for selection."

Altidore, you may recall, had a hat trick in Nashville the last time these two teams played. The rise of Davies since then has to be an encouraging development for the U.S.'s attacking future. After all, how many Top 15 national teams start a 19-year-old and a 23-year-old up top?

As for T&T, the cuddly upstart that made a splash at World Cup 2006 (tying Sweden and giving England all it could handle) is essentially out of contention for South Africa. But it does have one of the better front lines in CONCACAF. Kenwyne Jones (Sunderland) and Cornell Glen (San Jose Earthquakes) started in the team's 4-1 loss at Honduras on Saturday, but we could see the debut of recently naturalized Bobby Zamora (Fulham).

"These are all guys who are pretty decorated, particularly in CONCACAF," says Tim Howard. "They're a handful because, first off, you look at their physical stature, they're really big. But then they also possess good speed, they're good in the air. A lot of what they bring, ironically, kind of plays into our hands. Because from a defensive standpoint we're very good at those things as well. We're good in the air, we're fast, we're strong. So oftentimes our matchups have been pretty good against those guys for that reason."

Perhaps the biggest surprise on Saturday (other than Mexico's win at Costa Rica) was that the U.S., which had so readily picked up cards in 2009, didn't receive a single yellow against El Salvador. On the one hand, that left no players suspended for tonight's game, but it also means that seven U.S. players are one yellow card away from being suspended for October's qualifier at Honduras: Altidore, Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Clark, Dempsey, Donovan and Feilhaber.

"At this point we can't worry about cards," says Donovan, who was the Man of the Match against El Salvador. "The last game we were a little cautious of it and we did a good job. Right now we need to play to win the game, and if we take a yellow and miss a game that's part of it. We've got enough guys who can fill out the team."

THROUGH-BALLS: President Obama has been supportive of U.S. Soccer recently, writing a personal letter to FIFA president Sepp Blatter in support of the U.S. bid for the 2018/2022 World Cups and hosting Blatter in a private Oval Office meeting. We're also told that White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina is such a U.S. Soccer fan that he wore a Landon Donovan jersey on the day of the U.S.-Brazil Confederations Cup final. But Obama's scheduling of a big nationally televised speech tonight during an important U.S. World Cup qualifier? Lame ... If the U.S. builds a sizable lead, I wouldn't be surprised to see forward Robbie Findley get on the field. Findley's parents, Vanessa and Rawle, are from Port of Spain, and Findley has many relatives here. He even had a try-out with the T&T Under-21 team in 2005 ... It's amazing how often you see soccer references in non-soccer areas here. Trinidadian Jack Warner, the all-powerful FIFA vice-president, also appears in the papers here as chairman of the UNC-A political party, and there was also a front-page picture in the Daily Express of a beauty pageant that took place in the João Havelange Centre of Excellence, named for the Brazilian former FIFA president. Nice to see that Warner is acting as the Robert Byrd of soccer politics, bring lots of $$$ to his home state.

How do you see the U.S.-T&T game playing out? Who do you think will start for the Americans? Post your thoughts below and check back later for updates from the stadium.

Grant Wahl's New York Times Best Seller, The Beckham Experiment, is in bookstores everywhere. You can order it here. You can also find him on Twitter.