The United States men’s national team will play the final Concacaf World Cup qualifier of the October window on Wednesday night in what will prove to be a critical showdown against Costa Rica in Columbus, Ohio. The Americans are coming off their worst performance of the cycle, losing 1-0 to Panama on Sunday. Los Ticos just got their first win of qualifying, beating El Salvador 2-1 over the weekend, setting up a clash where Costa Rica can jump the U.S. in the standings with three points. Costa Rica beat the U.S. 2-0 in the states during qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
Here’s are storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
Date: Wednesday, October 13 | Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Lower.com Field — Columbus, Ohio
TV: ESPN2 | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
Odds: USA -225; Draw +280; Costa Rica +600 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
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Storylines
USMNT: We can expect serious rotation for this team, similar to what we saw last game in terms of the number of changes, but that should result in familiar names back in the starting XI such as Ricardo Pepi and Brenden Aaronson. As for Weston McKennie and Antonee Robinson, who didn’t travel with the team to Panama, both are being watched closely and tested ahead of the game to see if they will be available. If so, you can probably expect both to start, assuming they are nearly 100 percent fit. Otherwise, the key pieces like Matt Turner, Tyler Adams and Pepi should all be expected to start the team’s most important qualifier up to this point.
Costa Rica: Los Ticos are down some important players like forwards Joel Campbell (injury) and Jose Ortiz (COVID), but they have one player who can keep them in any game, and that’s world-class goalkeeper Keylor Navas. The PSG superstar was huge in the 2-1 win over El Salvador on Sunday, making a truly unbelievable late save to earn the three points. The U.S. has not faced a goalkeeper even remotely close to his quality in qualifying up to this point, and this will be a test they could find difficult passing. Expect Navas’ fine form to have Los Ticos firmly in this one.
Prediction
The U.S. lack ideas in the final third, and some big saves by Navas sees the teams split points. Pick: USA 1, Costa Rica 1
