The U.S. Men’s National Team kicked off World Cup qualifying this past Friday with a commanding victory over St. Vincent & the Grenadines, but the team’s first real challenge will come in Tuesday’s sophomore effort.

Following a 6-1 dismantling in the opening game over far inferior opposition, the U.S. will face a real test with Tuesday’s visit to an on-the-rise Trinidad & Tobago (6:30 p.m., beIN Sports USA). Facing a road game in less than ideal conditions, the U.S. are certain to face more of a battle than Friday’s exhibition against inferior opposition.

In T&T, the U.S. face a team that topped a Gold Cup group involving Mexico, as well as a team that is fresh off a statement victory in Guatemala. Still, even with all of the team’s recent struggles, the U.S. enters with plenty of self-belief as the team looks to continue to reestablish itself among the region’s elite.

“I think we’re pretty upbeat. We’re confident and we’re happy with our last performance,” said defender Geoff Cameron. “That’s obviously coming off of a few losses, friendly losses and the Mexico loss. I think we’ve turned it around and we’ve shown that we can be creative, we can score goals and we know it’s a tough challenge against Trinidad and we’re prepared for it.

“This is a massive three points and another step in the right direction for qualifying for Russia, so, for us, it’s just making sure we take care of business.”

That business won’t be easy, even if Trinidad & Tobago are far less heralded on the international stage. The Soca Warriors boast their fair share of weapons led by captain and English Premier League veteran Kenwyne Jones, a former teammate of Cameron’s at Stoke City.

Joining Jones are a slew of familiar faces from MLS, as the Chicago Fire’s Joevin Jones, Columbus Crew’s Kevan George, San Jose Earthquakes’ Cordell Cato and former Vancouver Whitecaps defender Carlyle Mitchell could all feature.

Dangerous on the wings, T&T will provide the U.S. with a major test of defensive discipline. Playing in front of Tim Howard, the U.S. back line will need to be tight, compact and smart if they hope to not get drawn into a game desired by T&T.

Overall, the Soca Warriors promise to be a physical challenge throughout the 90 minutes, with the ability to quickly counter and put the U.S. in dangerous situations. Combined with warm temperatures and lackluster field conditions, the U.S. knows that they will face a new challenge, but one typical of World Cup qualifying in the CONCACAF region.

“You try to kind of tell the players what to expect and obviously they’re going to feel it before the game,” head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “There’s a lot of respect for Trinidad and Tobago based on what they did over the last months and the Gold Cup, so we expected a difficult challenge.

“But those games in World Cup qualifying are all about difficulties, and you have to find ways to manage them. You respect your opponent always in the highest way possible but you have to try to play your own game and set the tone, play a high-tempo football and try to find ways to score goals, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

T&T are fully aware of those difficulties as well, despite boasting a young team against a squad typically regarded as one of the top two in the region.

Having watched the USMNT’s recent struggles from afar, T&T head coach Stephen Hart isn’t seeing as much doom and gloom as many would expect. Rather, the Soca Warriors boss still views the U.S. as one of the more talented and experienced in CONCACAF, not as the team that limped to losses against Jamaica, Panama, Mexico and Costa Rica.

“I watched the team closely and I understand the feeling with the U.S. press, but one, you have a tournament where things didn’t really go well,” Hart said. “Then, your exhibition games were not the best, but at the end of the day, you’re into something completely different. This is World Cup qualification. You have good experience.

“Tim Howard is back. I think that’s a massive part of the U.S. team, whether people want to admit that or not. His performance against Belgium, for me, was the single best goalkeeping performance I’ve ever seen in a World Cup, right? And when you have that kind of stability, that kind of experience, it drops itself onto the psyche of the players. I think the U.S. team will be fine.”

Tuesday night’s game presents the U.S. with another chance to take that step in the right direction. Currently entered in the slightly more forgiving stanza of World Cup qualifying, securing all three points will prove just as vital in establishing a bit of goodwill as it will in pushing the team towards the Hex.

“Obviously the results over a couple of times are not the ones everybody wants to see,” Klinsmann said, “then people speculate, people say their opinions, people express their feelings and that’s totally fine. At the end of the day, we start a long journey towards Russia 2018. We have to through the first group, which we will. Those are six games. Then we have to go 10 games in the second stage, which are difficult, just look at Mexico, what happened to them in the last qualifying campaign, and you prepare your team for that journey, for that long marathon that we always say.

“So the critics that are expressed by certain people, that’s totally fine with me. That’s what coaches have to live with. It’s part of your job. But at the end of the day, I’m always focused on the challenge. The challenge is tomorrow, T&T, with a good team, good players. Some play in Europe and do very well. We have to figure out ways to get a result tomorrow night.”