The United States lost to Trinidad 2-1 in a World Cup qualifying match that was meaningless for the Americans — at least from an advancing point of view — and meant everything for Trinidad.

Three of the teams in the final six of CONCACAF qualifying are set: the United States, Costa Rica and El Salvador. The other three spots are still up in the air thanks to some unexpected results.

Trinidad’s win — coupled with Guatemala’s surprising loss to Cuba — puts T&T on the brink of getting in. Trinidad just needs to get a point in its final match with Cuba to go through. Guatemala will need to beat the United States in Denver and get Trinidad to lose to Cuba. With Trinidad playing at home in Port of Spain and having already beaten Cuba 3-1 in Havana, that will be a tough combo for Guatemala to pull off. Had Guatemala got the win that was expected against Cuba, the final set of games would have been quite interesting.

In Group 2, Mexico rallied to tie Canada in Edmonton. To repeat: Mexico rallied to tie Canada in Edmonton. This can’t be good for Sven Goren Eriksson, who hasn’t exactly been dazzling in his stint as Mexico’s coach. In his last two games, he’s tied Canada and lost to Jamaica. The coach of Mexico is supposed to do more than that. Because of the tie, Mexico still hasn’t clinched a spot, though it’s really close.

The big game on Nov. 19, the final match day of this round, will have Mexico traveling to Honduras and Canada going to Jamaica. Canada is out of it and Jamaica needs to beat Canada by as many goals as it can. It needs to do that because if it wins 1-0, the Mexicans and Hondurans, who will be playing simultaneously, can stand around on the field, play to a scoreless tie, and both will advance. If Jamaica cranks up the offense — ultimately it will need at least six goals — Mexico and Honduras would both be playing for their lives. If Mexico and Jamaica win, they go through and Honduras is out. If Honduras and Jamaica win, Mexico will still get through if the Jamaicans can’t close reverse their six-goal gap in goal difference. But you also never know if Mexican pride will kick in and they’ll decide they need to win regardless of the scenario. The Mexican fans are seldom satisfied with just a tie, so the players may feel compelled to go for the win.

So it looks like the final six will be the United States, Trinidad, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador. (Maybe Jamaica instead of Honduras.) And from there, you’d think it would be the U.S., Mexico and Costa Rica getting the three guaranteed spots and the other three fighting it out for fourth and the playoff with a South American team.