As if the U.S. stock market doesn’t already have enough to worry about, it soon will have to contend with the World Cup, which will be held in Qatar between Nov. 20 and Dec. 18 in Qatar.

Uninspiring, deflating and disappointing. These are the adjectives in regular use to describe the final pre-World Cup window for the US men’s national team. A 2-0 loss to Japan and a 0-0 draw ...