The semifinal round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying kicks off for the US Men in the heat and humidity of hostile Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.

The long, 2-year CONCACAF qualifying process started for the US vs. Barbados this June, but it gets serious tonight vs. Los Chapines of Guatemala. How serious? 1,300 National Police plus 1,200 private security guards and soldiers serious.

First, here's a quick poll set up by the Washington Post’s most-excellent Steve Goff (gotta give props to the only US paper that actually appears to have bothered to send a reporter down with the team in advance):

I also want to point out the wealth of extra interesting stuff on the US Men’s National Team’s official blog. I would have indexed and linked to several individual articles that are interesting there, but they don't have it setup properly to directly link to individual articles instead of the entire monthly archive. That being said, here's the part of the blog that lists the official US Soccer Bars (whatever that means) if you still haven’t decided where to watch the game and are in one of the towns mentioned (Chicago, NYC, and Washington DC). If you don’t have access to ESPN2/Classic or Galavision, you can see a stream of the Galavision broadcast here.

Now here's all of the articles I've been able to track down to whet your Yanqui-loving soccer appetite:

All Articles Indexed for the Updated Topic: US MNT vs. Guatemala (Aug. 20, 2008 Cup Qualifier)
U.S. Escapes With A Historic Win Against Guatemala | ESPN Aug 21, 08 | go to article
Bocanegra's Goal Is Just Enough For The U.S. | Washington Post Aug 21, 08 | go to article
United States Beats Guatemala 1-0 In Wc Qualifier | Google News Aug 21, 08 | go to article
U.S. Men Earn Historic World Cup Qualifying Win In Guatemala | USSF Aug 21, 08 | go to article
Post Game Quote Sheet: U.S. Men Defeat Guatemala, 1-0, In World Cup Qualifying | USSF Aug 21, 08 | go to article
Big U.S. Win In Ugly Game | Soccer America Aug 21, 08 | go to article
Bocanegra, Howard Earn Highest Marks | Soccer America Aug 21, 08 | go to article
Bocanegra's Header Helps USA Hold Off Guatemala | Sports Network Aug 21, 08 | go to article
USA Limp To Win In Unforgiving Territory | Goal.com Aug 21, 08 | go to article
Mccarthy's Musings: Just Win, Baby | Goal.com Aug 21, 08 | go to article
Recap: Guatemala 0 - 1 United States | Yanks Abroad Aug 21, 08 | go to article
USA Faces 'Incredibly Difficult' Road Test | Soccer America Aug 20, 08 | go to article
U.S. Team Regroups For Cup Qualifier | Washington Post Aug 20, 08 | go to article
U.S. Men’s Team Takes Aim At World Cup | Fort Worth Star Telegram Aug 20, 08 | go to article
U.S. Forwards Need To Step Up Against Guatemala | ESPN Aug 20, 08 | go to article
World Cup Qualifying Set To Resume | St. Louis Post Dispatch Aug 20, 08 | go to article
The Pressure's On Landon Donovan After Missing Olympics | Los Angeles Times Aug 20, 08 | go to article
Guatemala Hopes 13th Time Is The Charm | Washington Post Aug 19, 08 | go to article
Good Morning, Guatemala | Washington Post Aug 19, 08 | go to article
CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Preview: Guatemala v. USA | Goal.com Aug 19, 08 | go to article
Ching, U.S. Looking To Feed Off Pressure | Houston Chronicle Aug 19, 08 | go to article
Preview: United States - Guatemala | Yanks Abroad Aug 19, 08 | go to article
World Cup Qualifier: U.S. vs. Guatemala | New York Times Aug 19, 08 | go to article
US Players Go Around The Globe | Yahoo Aug 19, 08 | go to article
Fielding A Problem | Washington Post Aug 19, 08 | go to article
USA-Guatemala Poll | Washington Post Aug 19, 08 | go to article
USA Update | Washington Post Aug 19, 08 | go to article
Beasley Returns To Action And To U.S. Squad | Soccer America Aug 18, 08 | go to article
U.S. Men Begin Semifinal Round Of 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Wed., Aug. 20 At Guatemala | USSF Aug 18, 08 | go to article
Qualifying Semifinals Begin With Trip To Unfriendly Guatemala | Soccer Times Aug 18, 08 | go to article
On Eve Of World Cup Qualifier, U.S. Hopes For Definitive Performance | Sports Illustrated Aug 18, 08 | go to article
Why Has USA Been Passing On Cooper? | Soccer America Aug 18, 08 | go to article
Sunday Evening Musings | ESPN Aug 17, 08 | go to article
Four Olympians But Not Adu Called In By Bob Bradley | Soccer America Aug 15, 08 | go to article
Beasley Added To US Roster For World Cup Qualifier | Yahoo Aug 15, 08 | go to article
U.S. Roster Announced For World Cup Qualifier | Yahoo Aug 14, 08 | go to article
Dynamo's Ching Will Join U.S. For Guatemala Match | Houston Chronicle Aug 14, 08 | go to article
Ruiz To Face Americans In World Cup Qualifier | Soccer America Aug 12, 08 | go to article
Ruiz Chasing Historic Farewell | FIFA Aug 5, 08 | go to article