Past hovers over USMNT's return to Trinidad and Tobago, but focus is on present for Concacaf Nations League

The USMNT picked up a 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in the first leg of the Nations League quarterfinals

A 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday in the first leg of the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals arguably sets up for a fairly routine scenario ahead of the second leg, but for the U.S. men's national team, a return to the Caribbean nation comes with history.

It is not all bad history. The goal that ushered in the modern era of the USMNT was scored in Port of Spain by Paul Caligiuri in a 1-0 win that ensured the team would be at the 1990 World Cup, ending a 40-year absence from the competition. It is that history U.S. Soccer opted to embrace ahead of the side's Monday match in the same city by inviting Caligiuri to speak to the current squad, made up almost entirely of players born after that moment.

"We actually had Paul in, connecting the past with the present. I was only a couple years old, I think, at that time so I don't remember it but you hear and we've seen highlights of that game," defender Tim Ream said in a press conference on Sunday. "Without that goal, without qualifying for the 1990 World Cup, potentially we're not sitting here again. Being able to connect the past with the present during this camp has been nice and it is something that we've discussed and touched on."