Prevailing at home historically has been crucial in the Hex; the U.S. won all five of the games it hosted last cycle, plus three more in the semifinal stage. After losing its first Hex match to Mexico this time around, a second consecutive slip-up would require the national team to make up ground on the road, where the challenges awaiting visitors are well-documented.

Yet there's a reason that the U.S. Soccer Federation's marketing slogan for Friday's match is "Get 3" and not "Need 3."

In the strictest sense, Friday's game isn't really a must win. For all the emphasis on succeeding on home soil, it's worth pointing out that four years ago, Mexico won only one of its five matches in Mexico City and still reached the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, albeit after having to win a two-leg playoff against Oceania champ New Zealand.

So in a pressure-packed tilt for which Americans will be missing key starters like Fabian Johnson, DeAndre Yedlin and Bobby Wood, why put any extra and unnecessary stress on themselves?

"We're not out of it until it's mathematically proven that you can't qualify," defender Geoff Cameron conceded in a scrum with reporters after the U.S. trained Wednesday morning.

"There's no doubt in my mind that if things were bad and we had to go on the road and win four games, I look around the locker room and look at the guys and [think] we're a team that can get it done if needed. But obviously that's the last situation we want to be in."

Avoiding such a predicament is a huge part of the reason why the hosts are so desperate for three points against Honduras. As much as a hard-fought tie wouldn't necessarily be the end of the world -- or the World Cup -- for the Yanks against a talented, dynamic and experienced foe that reached the main event in 2010 and '14, it could make some the games to come later on true can't-lose contests.

"You don't want things to snowball and keep going because eventually you get to that point where it is do-or-die," veteran U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, participating in his fourth qualifying campaign, told ESPN FC on Wednesday afternoon. "So we need to collect points, and we need to do it now."

Getting the first goal could be key. Momentum matters during qualifying, and an early lead would go a long way toward settling the Americans' nerves. That's what happened almost exactly a year ago, when the U.S. faced a real must-win match against Guatemala last March. Because the region's semifinal round features only six games, the margin for error is even smaller than it is during the Hex.

A 2-0 defeat in Guatemala City left the Americans facing the prospect of potentially being eliminated from 2018 contention more than two years ahead of the tournament. After a tentative opening first 10 minutes of the rematch in Columbus, Ohio, Clint Dempsey scored and the floodgates opened, with the hosts prevailing 4-0 in the end.

"The pressure is on us, but we've been here, we've dealt with it before and I think we're confident going into Friday night," Cameron said. "We'll try to go out there, high-pressure them and dictate the pace of the game."

According to Howard, the weight of expectation might actually help.

"From the standpoint that there is so much importance on this game that it makes it feel like a must win, that's good," he said. "If people are saying, 'Oh my God, we have to do this,' I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It's good that we feel pressure that we have to get a result."