The United States hosts Canada in Houston on Tuesday night (9 p.m. ET on ESPN2) in the last match for the Americans prior to the final round of World Cup qualifying, which kicks off Feb. 6. Here are five notes previewing the friendly:

• The United States is undefeated in 15 straight meetings with Canada since 1985, though only eight of those games were wins. Canada has been shut out in eight of its past nine matchups, including a scoreless friendly in Toronto last June. The U.S. hasn’t lost at home to Canada since a 1957 World Cup qualifier in St. Louis, going 8-0-8 in 16 games since then.

• A handful of the 23 players in the U.S. camp are expected to earn spots in the upcoming World Cup qualifying squad. Four years ago, only two players from the January friendly ultimately made the 2010 World Cup roster. That was the duo of Jonathan Bornstein and Ricardo Clark, who both received ample criticism for their struggles in South Africa.

• U.S. forward Will Bruin scored twice in a closed-door match against Mexican champion Tijuana last week. Bruin tied for ninth in MLS with 12 goals last season, then added four more goals in the playoffs. His 16 total goals set a Houston Dynamo single-year record for all competitions, breaking the mark of 14 accomplished twice by Brian Ching.

• After losing 4-0 to Denmark on Saturday, Canada has lost its past two matches by a combined score of 12-1. The Canucks concluded their World Cup qualifying campaign with an 8-1 loss in Honduras, the team’s worst loss since an 8-0 thrashing against Mexico in 1993.

• Canada ended the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying in third place with 10 points, one point behind Honduras and Panama. Of the 34 teams to win at least 10 points in the semifinal round under the current format, Canada is one of five that failed to advance. Canada hasn’t made the final round since 1998, and its only World Cup appearance was in 1986.

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