At various points in the last year, both the national soccer teams of both Mexico and the United States have been in crisis.

Last summer, Mexico was an excellent start to the centennial Copa America – beating Uruguay 3-1, winning its group, and being touted as a contender to raise the trophy in New Jersey.

Then, a shock: In the quarterfinal, Mexico was handed a Brazil-esque humiliation – a 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Chile. It was the worst competitive loss in the history of the Mexican national team.

Manager Juan Carlos Osorio was raked over the coals. His squad rotation policy – he started three goalkeepers and eighteen field players in Mexico’s four Copa America games – and tactical unconventionality were mercilessly mocked.

Osorio’s Colombian heritage didn’t do him any favors either. He offered, as any coach would, to resign.

But the Mexican Federation – having burned through four coaches on its improbable road to the 2014 World Cup and with the turbulence of the Miguel Herrera era still fresh in the memory – decided to let Osorio stay on.

It was a decision nearly as improbable as the defeat that led to it. But Osorio, who said that he went “almost 50 days without sleeping” after the loss, had a new lease on life.

He stayed the course, and, in the first game of the Hexagonal in November, led Mexico to one of its best results in years – a 2-1 win in Columbus against the United States.

It was a vindicatory moment for Osorio, who now, almost a year exactly after massacre against Chile, has Mexico playing its best soccer since the heady days of 2011 and 2012.

Osorio – thanks to his honesty, his meticulousness, and, perhaps, that liberal squad rotation policy – has gotten a notoriously fractured group of players to buy into his system.

Carlos Vela, who skipped the 2014 World Cup and hadn’t played consistently with the national team in years, is back in the fold as one of the team’s foremost leaders. Javier Hernandez even compared his coach to Sir Alex Ferguson.

Mexico is undefeated to this point in the Hex, having racked up four straight shutouts. Their eight goals have all been scored by different players. Osorio’s team is deep, and – just possibly – tougher mentally than Mexico teams of the past have been.

Osorio is a coach fascinated, as many of the great ones are, with the psychology of the game. That November result – won in the tensest of environments just three days after Donald Trump was elected U.S. president – spoke to that newfound toughness.

But if that game in Columbus was a turning point for Osorio and Mexico, it was the beginning of U.S. Soccer’s own crisis – which would climax with the firing of manager Jurgen Klinsmann just ten days later after the U.S. was tattooed 4-0 in Costa Rica.

With the U.S. pinned to the bottom of the Hexagonal standings with zero points from their first two games, the program turned to Bruce Arena – the country’s most successful ever coach – to lead the team to Russia.

SEE MORE: Where to find the Mexico-USA game on US TV and streaming

The results, to this point, have been resounding. The U.S. is unbeaten in the first six games of Arena 2.0, picking up seven points from three crucial qualifying matches and outscoring opponents 9-1 in the process.

Arena’s first competitive game – a must-win qualifier in San Jose against Honduras in March – was a statement: A 6-0 U.S. win that smashed the record for the program’s biggest-ever Hex win.

The U.S. looks revitalized. That’s thanks in large part to Arena – who, as a straight-shooting players’ coach with a fundamental belief in American soccer and American players, is in many ways Klinsmann’s opposite – but it’s also thanks in large part to Christian Pulisic.

Pulisic, at just eighteen, is a sensation unlike anything the U.S. national team has ever seen. He’s been directly involved in the team’s last eight goals, and, in the space of roughly three months, has become the team’s most important player.

The U.S. has had plenty of good players over the years, and one of them, Clint Dempsey, is about to break the national team’s all-time scoring record. But Pulisic is different. He’s world class, and, for his team, he’s been a shot in the arm.

Around the Hershey native, Arena has sorted the rest of the team out. He’s found a left back in Jorge Villafaña, given Darlington Nagbe an expanded role, and moved Michael Bradley – for good – back into holding midfield.

SEE MORE: Mexico-USA preview, TV times and team news

This is the U.S.’s most talented team ever, and it’s in good hands.

On Sunday night at the famous Estadio Azteca, Mexico and the United States will renew one of the world’s greatest football rivalries with what should be a superb game.

Pulisic, who might just be the most talented player on the field for either team, announced on Thursday after his brace led the U.S. over Trinidad and Tobago – almost as an afterthought – that the Americans would win.

If they do, it will be a historic evening. The U.S. has never won a competitive game in Mexico, having taken just two points from their thirteen all-time qualifying meetings south of the border.

But regardless of what happens on Sunday night, both the United States and Mexico are in stronger positions than they have been in years. Both teams are on their way to Russia, and both could do plenty of damage once they get there.