The United States Men's National Team has never won a soccer match in Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying. In fact, they've never gotten a point from the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica either. If that doesn't change, Jurgen Klinsmann is going to have a lot of explaining to do for a team that will have no points through two of the 10 matches of the Hex, the last stage before the World Cup in Russia in 2018.
This World Cup Qualifying duel will go down Tuesday, November 15, 2016, at 9:05 p.m. ET at Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica. The match will be televised live on beIN Sports.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
The Hex has always been a huge challenge for all of the teams in CONCACAF, as going on the road is brutally tough to all of the locations amongst these six teams. For the United States though, we're talking about a team that has had at least some degrees of success against many of these top teams in recent years, but here in Costa Rica, it just hasn't found a way to get the job done.
That's why Costa Rica is very likely going to be the very slight favorite in this match just as was the case for Mexico in Columbus on Friday night.
Roster Analysis
The Yanks badly have to get away from this 3-5-2 concoction Klinsmann came up with for the start of that Mexico match. They looked much more comfortable in a 4-4-2 and scored shortly after the start of the second half, and Klinsmann should take lessons from that and just start in that formation with Bobby Wood and Jozy Altidore up top with Michael Bradley and Christian Pulisic in the center of the midfield.
We can only assume that Brad Guzan is going to start in net after Tim Howard was subbed out for a groin injury he picked up in the first half.
Costa Rica snared its three points against Trinidad and Tobago with a nice effort on the road, particularly in the second half when Christian Bolanos and Ronald Matarrita scored.
But it's the two strikers up front from Sporting CP, Bryan Ruiz and Joel Campbell who have the best shot of really making a big impact on this match. These two have combined to score 34 goals for their nation, and though this is a defense-first team, these are the men who could come out of nowhere to put one in the back of the net.
Recent Form
The Hex started off well for Costa Rica and horribly for the United States. Los Ticos have three points to show for their work on the road, and now, they've got five wins in a row to their credit, including winning each of their last four qualifiers dating back to the fourth round which ended in September.
The USA meanwhile, is starting to really rack up some suspect results. The team does have a 3-1-1 record in its last five, but the wins came against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba, not exactly the cream of the crop. In fact, the last four times the Americans played against even marginally good teams, they were beaten by Mexico, drew with New Zealand and were beaten by Colombia and Argentina.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
Is this the end for Klinsmann? We would really wonder aloud if this match was lost if a change wouldn't need to be made. Though it's clear that this is a talented team, playing on the road against Costa Rica is a huge challenge. Scoring is going to be a problem for sure, and we think this match is one that's going to stay under the total. We'll give the Yanks a point, but certainly no more than that.
World Cup Qualifying Odds: Costa Rica 0, USA 0
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