Uefa has defended its policy on keeping some countries with political tensions apart in its qualifying groups and not others following the brawl that caused the Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania to be abandoned.
The United States dropped behind first-place Jamaica, into a tie with Guatemala, in its qualifying group.
Each United States team has been seeded first in its qualifying group.
But inspired by the IOC's move in accepting refugee competitors, the World Taekwondo Federation agreed earlier this year to allow her to compete in its qualifying tournament as an independent athlete.
The Americans will play Mexico on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio, and Mexico, which had already been struggling in its qualifying campaign, will surely be hungry after a stunning 2-1 home loss to Honduras on Friday.
This uninterrupted success is due, in part, to the fact that the United States, situated in a region that has few soccer powers, typically faces relatively weak opponents in its qualifying tournament.
But once the game in Slovenia is over, the United States is not likely to see action until perhaps two exhibitions in January and one on an international match day, Feb. 29, possibly against opposition from South America and a Central American team not in its qualifying group.
The fact that only a handful of Ethiopian players compete abroad — midfielder Addis Hintsa plays in Sudan and striker Getaneh Kebede for the South African Premier Soccer League club Bidvest Wits — has in a way helped the team in its qualifying campaign.
The Global Energy Forecasting Competition 2017 also used ISONE data in its qualifying match.
"I remember sitting in Honduras a couple of years back: First game, doom and gloom, World Cup's over," goalkeeper Tim Howard said, recalling the U.S. loss to Honduras in its qualifying opener in 2013.
