The United States soccer team faces a big test tonight in their quest to qualify for the World Cup finals when they take on Guatemala at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The Americans look to rebound from a 2-1 loss on Sunday to Mexico that was not as close as the score indicates.

'We're disappointed about the loss, but we've got to put it behind us,' defender Carlos Bocanegra told the Washington Post. 'We have a lot of games left in qualifying. If we get three points against Guatemala, we'll be heading in the right direction.'

There are six teams in the Americans division and only three of them will advance to the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. Right now, the U.S. is tied for third place with a 1-1 record with eight games remaining. Guatemala is 1-0-1 although they are not considered among the stronger teams in the bracket. The two favorites are considered the United States and Mexico.

The United States will be playing without DaMarcus Beasley. Beasley received an automatic one-game suspension by receiving his second yellow card of the qualifying round on Sunday.

Guatemala's biggest scoring threat is Carlos Ruiz who stars for the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS. Ruiz scored twice in Guatemala's last game.

American coach Bruce Arena is looking forward to tonight's game. 'We really believe every time we have been in Birmingham, it has been a pro-American crowd,' Arena said. 'We're very comfortable with whatever the crowd is in Birmingham, hopefully it is 30 [to] 40,000 people, that it's going to be 30 [to] 40,000 people supporting the U.S. team. That's what we love about Birmingham, it's just been a great venue for us.'

American soccer fans hope Arena will still be singing the same tune tomorrow.