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Let’s start by stipulating that soccer is fun and good and cool. OK?

Even if you don’t share that sentiment — maybe you favor “nil-nil” jokes and the like — you’re here because you love sports, and there’s a game tonight that captures so much of what fuels our fandom.

The United States men’s soccer team faces its biggest and most important test in more than three years on Friday night when it hosts Mexico in a crucial World Cup qualifying match in Cincinnati (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2).