By IVES GALARCEP
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica– The World Cup qualifying rematch that has been circled on every calendar in Costa Rica since the infamous snow game in March is here, as the U.S. Men’s National Team put their 12-match winning streak on the line against Costa Rica at Estadio Nacional (10pm, BeIN Sport).
The Americans can take a major step toward qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, and possibly even clinch a berth, with a victory tonight. History isn’t on their side as they take the field tonight having never won a qualifier, or match of any kind, in Costa Rica.
The ‘Ticos’ know how important the match is as well, needing a win at home to strengthen their own hold on a World Cup qualifying place.
SBI will be providing live match commentary directly from here at Estadio Nacional so please feel free to follow all the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):
Miscalculation by Klinsi.
Mexico is on the ropes and te US could TKO them…
BUT
Now Bradley Jozy Cameron Bessler all out anyone else ?
We have a deep pool of players. So, don’t worry.
Your right how dare Klinsi tell Bradley to warm up, hurt Jozy in England and have Bessler get a very weak yellow that no one seems to think he deserved based upon his reaction.
Bradley isn’t out for sure. He was walking without a boot and putting weight on the injured foot. He may be fit to go.
I believe Klinsmann might have suspected he would have to take a yellow at some point in the game and held him out for precautionary reasons with that in the back of his mind.
Tonight’s game may be foreshadowing the impending attack on Syria. Alas, American hubris.
If we spent half the money we spend in illegal wars in the USOC, we’d be sweeping every Olympics and World Cup.
Being that you’re posting political jibber jabber on a soccer blog, I have no choice but to assume you’re not very bright.
sorry guise got a tick on my b@lls su€king me dry
Costa Rica has better strikers than Syria. Better defense, too.
I thought the US was so confident they could win this game. I have seen no confidence…only sloppy play. A 12 game win streak is great but if you cant even get a tie in CR what does it matter. If the US really wants to have any chance of doing anything in Brazil you have to win games like this. CR is a decent team but they are not even a mediocre team in Europe. Really Really disappointed in this game.
Wow, let’s back up. Included in that 12 game win streak was 3 WCQ wins and a regional championship.
Costa Rica would certainly be in the middle of a European qualifying group, above the 2 minnows in each group and below the top two, and depending on the group, in the top 2.
Passing and dribbling poor. Possession. Poor. Cannot wait to see the Mexico game. The USA has been much better. You never know what you will get with the USA. The team that beats Germany or the team that loses to Jamaica. Never know. This came is case in point.
Are we just going go ignore the fact that the most important midfielder and the best striker for the US did not play?
Also it is very hard to win in Costa Rica.
Ruiz and Campbell are probably the most potent attacking pair in CONCACAF, period. They’re at the top of the table for a reason.
They won’t play Tuesday either
Altidore with an all time stupid move there.
Come on. CR were BRILLIANT in the first 15 minutes. Navas was brilliant (if a bit of a simulator). the problem? NO US midfield. Jones is awful. Cameron bad tonight. I prefer Torres, but I’m in the minority.
And now a YELLOW for a bump from altidore???
Hey, so who will miss the Mexico match in Columbus? Wasn’t able to see the bookings earlier.
Still going but as of now believe it is Cameron and Besler. Also would be surprised if Bradley is ready to go due to that ankle knock
Besler
Cameron, Besler, Omar
Bradley (injury)
Thanks guys!
Our back line sucks. IIRC, this was the concern when we started qualifying. It still is.
Howard does tend to overplay at times…and those times are BAD
Never been so happy to see an American get a yellow. Besler and Gonzalez have been awful, that pairing needs to be revisited.
you dumb gonzo has been easily the best player for usa today
“you dumb”
Say no more. Please.
With three goals against? Perhaps not bad, but definitely not the best.
Were any his fault?
Hm, seeing that one cross he didn’t pressure on one goal and how far behind Besler he was on the last, I’d say yeah, he was at least slightly culpable.
I’d bring back Guchi and Bocanegra.
What? Bocanegra is playing and in shape? LOL. No offense to you, but that is an oversight on the part of Klinnsman. Even Chivas USA has a defense starting to gel and reducing there goals against..again..Bocanegra.
The USMNT Jersey has a different weight than some raggedy stinking Chivas USA/MEX striped one.
Gonzalez should have gone to Europe and mentally get up to a world class standard…Gonzalez has a LOT of tools, but those tools are dull. Hello, Brooks? You have no cards? Get in there. I know Brooks can hang.
Guchi and Bocanegra. Even Goodson would be better choice.
mexico loses two yellows automatically
That’s unfortunate, but really Howard should do better on that. And now the Concacaf lying down may commence.
Game. Set. Match. 3-1
Have we not any more goalkeepers?
that was Ghana all over again…
Hah, Howard…
Howard should not be starting these games. Period. End of story
The US midfield is being owed which is causing the defense to be overrun (Omar and Beasler have both picked up yellows). We are down 4 players…4 for Mexico (Cameron, Besler, Bradley, Omar).
We need an understudy for Bradley. A healthy Stuart Holden would have been perfect.
I love the way you are not overreacting, Matt.
Howard has not made saves. Plain and simple. Every legitimate shot sent howards way went in. And its a trend. He has not made saves a top keeper should
oh boy.
Aztecazo confirmed. Wow, now I kinda don’t feel bad if the U.S. loses in Costa Rica.
I, on the contrary, will feel really bad if we lose in CRI.
Honduras won at Azteca before we did. Let’s hope we tie it in CRI.
Fuera Chepo?
Leaving Chicharito on the bench to start? Probably won’t be fired before next week, but the only thing that could save his job is beating the USA.
Kljestan is in New York tonight , looks like he’ll have to be called in
Azteco is cheering Ole for Honduras passing the ball. Incredible. And then Bengston misses and open goal for a possible third for Honduras.
this is schadenfreude at it’s best. And now they are booing when mexico has the ball.
me or the mexico fans Pete? and does anyone besides you, me and Biff know what schadenfreude means?
Well possibly you but certainly me. And if you know spanish the unimas broadcast is pure gold.
what about biff?
How do you say schadenfreude in Spanish?
It’s good with Pablo RamÃrez and Jesús Bracamontes(2nd half). The announcers in the first half. especially Felix Fernández, not so much.
Anyway, Honduras went from looking like they were trying to give the game away in the first half with so many bad giveaways in their end to scrapping their way to a couple loose balls on Mexico errors (Salcido then Reyes) and putting a couple chances away.
Mexican fans are giving Ole’s and seemingly cheering for Honduras now. And should have been 3-1, Honduras missed an absolute sitter.
anyone got a link to a stream for this one?
I didn’t like Deuce as the point at all. Doesn’t work with him dropping deep or exchanging positions LD… We need to have a greater presence in the box…even EJ would be an improvement…rather see LD wide right with Ice playing the point with Deuce underneath. This first half will definitely heat up the debate of Beas playing in the backline…I still can’t see that at a WC…no way.
Way to get involved in the match, Landon.
Amazing that over 50% of the above voters think we should bench either Donovan or Dempsey for a 21 yr old with one cap in a friendly. Wow
Yes we should. They cancel each other out when they play together. For me and should be for JK Dempsey starts and Donovan subs for him.
Not really, a lot of commenters are all about the flavor of the week. Good thing there wasn’t a question about Lichaj.
If you think Orozco is a better RB than Lichaj, you must be clueless. He’s been terrible.
Dempsey has tick on his nads sucking him dry
diving sob Dempsey garbage
Mex 1-2 Honduras 70th minute
I’m having “we didn’t deserve that penalty” remorse. Can you guys tell me why it was definitely, legitimately a penalty?
My doubts are that I strongly believe the ball was out of FJ’s reach. He wouldn’t have gotten to it, and the keeper I think was genuinely going for the ball and found himself tackling FJ instead.
that’s called a penalty
Navas made no attempt to play the ball, but did take out Johnson’s legs. Absolutely correct call IMHO.
Well the Mexico job market will have at least 1 opening come tomorrow.
2-1 Honduras. Mexico is fragile.
That’s a stunner, but there’s still a lot to play. However, if HON holds for a tie, Chepo is out and we can knock MEX out when we play them.
Guys whats just happened?
Bye Chepo
Can we ban Clint from taking PKs now? He’s so bad at it. He always telegraphs his placement and fires directly at the keeper.
Yes we can!
I’d bring Mixx instead of Jones. We need someone who could create something. Cameron is good as DF, instead of Jones, not Bradley.
agreed
HOLY CRASP MEXICO AND HONDURAS ARE TIED.
i mean… COSTLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!
Costly! 2-1 Honduras!
carlos costly – honduras 2-1
Does mexico have a new coach on Tuesday in Columbus?
Who HAS been good? I’m ready to agree that Jones has been awful; Beasley ineffective; Zusi bad; Cameron not great. Dempsey poor, really. VERY lucky to have scored that PK. And honestly, I haven’t really noticed anyone else, except that second goal I think Howard might have…tried?
I would be thrilled with a draw.
Mex vs Hon 1-1 uhmm interesting…
Very, very, very interesting, for Chepo at least.
Honduras up 2-1 from Costly!.
and honduras ties the score at Azteca. mex 1 – honduras 1
JK with aces up his sleeve in his offense loaded bench. Jozy and Iceman to give us the win, send us to the WC and make JK look a genius yet again?
You could have Messi it wouldn’t matter the way this midfield is playing.
US is often a tale of 2 halves. Rope-a-dope in the first half. Knockout punch in the 2nd?
Bengston goal. 1-1 Honduras
I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but Howard has become a sack of goals every time he plays.
I was thinking that too.
Neither gol was due to Howard’s ineptitude as GK
Last two games at Everton have been clean sheets so maybe its something to do with this team.
I mean with USMNT.
Beasley is garbage. Get him out
He is yellow … well, garbage.
Bedoya in for Zusi. Pull Cameron. Put EJ up top with Duece. Switch to a 4-1-3-2.
That’s too much. Cameron is not playing that bad–don’t listen to the announcers. Pull Deuce, and put in Johannson first.
never said Cameron is playing poorly. At a bar so don’t even know what the announcers are saying. Two subs is not too much. And you know Klinsi would never take out JJ.
Jones has been worse then Cameron. His touch is just awful.
Put Bedoya in now.
i hate when people write that, but eff me it was the first thing to come out of my finger tips
yeah, me, too… but seriously, she looks like she needs a 12 step program or something…
Wow, Terri Leigh…. eat a sandwich, please.
Yeah, she looks a bit like an alien. She’s a few pizzas away from being hot, though.
Rough start, but CRC at home is not a pushover. I expect that the team will come out of the locker room a better team in the second half. The defenders need to stop going route one, and play through Cameron, and Jones, while Deuce, and Landon need to start moving a bit better to protect the passes from the mids.
Give the current lineup another 10 minutes after the half now that they are making headway, then go with
Howard; Cameron, Gonzalez, Besler; Beasley; Beckerman, Jones; Zusi, Donovan, F. Johnson; Dempsey
If you can get the equalizer sub out Dempsey for Johansson and Bedoya for Donovan, save their legs for Mexico.
When did MB get hurt?
pre game warm ups
ugh, that stinks…
Why did Dempsey take the penalty? He’s been lousy at that throughout his career, and that was a very poor penalty. Got lucky that it deflected in.
Yeah, he’s not really a great pure ball striker. I would have Jozy take it if he were in the game, but there isn’t really ANYONE I’d trust for that shot. LD has missed several recently. I think Zusi missed one recently too. JJ, Fabian? I’m not in low with either of those guys taking a pk.
I love Deuce, his game, his toughness, his attitude….
Everything except his Spot Kicks… gotta agree with you on this one, never been his strong point
But it went in… and we still got 45 minutes
Did you see him grab the armband? He kept touching it right after the call. It was pretty funny.
he’s the captain and it’s 100th cap. I’m betting the rest of the team gave him right of first refusal and we went for it.
One thing we need to do to close the gap on MEX, USMNT must learn to not turn so yellow when they play abroad.
Or rather in the CONCACAF region….Against Mexico in Azteca, they played their hearts out against their archrival… But against Central American countries, it seems to be a conundrum with them. Somehow, they play well against Italy and Bosnia, but less intensity until down goals against Central American countries…Drives you nuts
According to the table mexico is the one who needs to close the gap.
World Champions U-20 twice, Olympic Champion, Confederations Cup Champions…that’s the real gap.
Gap this: Don’t talk to me about history and youth sides when you can’t beat Honduras at home.