Pre-match: USA @ Costa Rica 3/30 9:05 pm ET

With Reyna being sick, Arriola questionable, and Morris not looking at his best yet......................I suspect Pulisic will start this one.

Personally, I think its likely that all of the players pulled early in the Panama game will start. Berhalter will take no chances. Play a strong lineup, and if things are looking good then we take 'em out early again.

I do think we'll see a couple of changes from the Panama game. Pepi for Ferreira. Maybe Bello for Robinson? And of course Yedlin back in the starting XI.

Road game against one of the toughest teams in the region demands our best. I don't really want to qualify.................on the back of a 3-0 loss.

Pulisic seems like the heart and soul of this team. We have a lot of "nice guys" in the group. Tyler Adams and company. I loved the fire Christian Pulisic showed against Panama. Clint Dempsey-esque. When your best player is also the guy fighting the hardest, that's a motivator for the group.

 

And he said some were effected more than others. He called out Gio specifically as really struggling with it and how it’s hindered his recovery after the Panama game (still throwing up).

 

If they throw a youth team out at us then we better get our first win at CR tonight. Use the chance to put our best 11 out there and get those guys some valuable minutes together. Not many windows between now and Qatar.

 

Where is the information showing who is currently (today) sick enough to suggest they “probably won’t play”? Did Gregg say that in his PC?

 

I would start Pulisic, Acosta, Arriola, and Yedlin, assuming each is fit enough to go. All four were on the field at Couva in 2017. Let them exorcise those demons by being on the field as the US qualifies. If nothing else, they are not going to let anyone on the pitch get lackadaisical.

 

I don't think I've seen anyone say that he probably won't play. But Gregg did make it sound like he was still a doubt to start today:

"One of the concerns that we have was just how the stomach virus affected him, and how it's continued to affect him. You know he was on the field for 45 minutes, and he was struggling. And after the game it was a tough time and he wasn't able to hold the antibiotics down, and he was still struggling. So, he's a guy that's going to be a major piece in the long term for this program; I'm not too concerned about tomorrow, or classifying anything beyond what happens tomorrow in the game." (That last part was in response to a question that implied some longer term unavailability concerns with Reyna.)

 

Well, that kind of sucks.

 

Well it's a good thing we faced Panama on Sunday.

 

If they do, good for our FIFA ranking.

If we were in the situation CR is in, this board wouldn't want to raise the white flag. We'd demand our team go out and throw the kitchen sink at the opposition for a half. Then reassess.....................

I'll be surprised if CR just throws in the towel. That's not like them.

They'll feel like fools if Mexico loses 2-0 to El Salvador, which would present a reasonable chance at automatic qualification. And with the way Mexico is playing, that's not exactly a total fairy tale situation. Two set piece scrambles...................

 

I'm surprised, too, but that seems to be the way it is going. I can admire the ruthlessness in decision making.

Mexico isn't losing to El Salvador, and certainly not by 2.

 

This kind of situation shows how stuff like this has unintended consequences. Panama can't catch CR but if they could, holy cow would this cause a giant mess.

 

Agreed. This is entirely different situation from Couva. This is orders of magnitude less likely.

The last time the USA gave up 6 was to France in a 1979 friendly. I do not have the lineups, but I do recall that the 1982 French team (along with 1982 Brazil squad) were probably the last teams organized around trying to outscore the opposition. One of the most dangerous attacking teams ever, and one of the one most dedicated to attack. Right up there with Puskas' Hungary & Pele's Brazil & their 1982 Brazillian counterparts (& the Total Football Dutch teams of the 1970s). Germany's cheap shot and Italy's pragmatism killed off attacking soccer that WC.

This Costa Rican squad is galaxies removed from being that kind of attacking threat. And I daresay the USA has improved slightly since 1979. Heck, I do not think Zimmerman/Miles have given up a single goal in qualifying while on the pitch together. Give it up people we are in.

Which is not to say CR will roll over, especially at home. Beating us by 6 is not their only path. Them going for it for a half at least, would not surprise me.

But at some point discretion has to be the better part of valor, especially if Mexico are cruising. They cannot risk losing multiple critical players in June chasing wild geese in March.

 

This isn't correct at all. If the US was in a guaranteed 4th and needing a 6-0 to get 3rd with players like Pulisic, Adams, McKennie, and Reyna on yellows, then the Internet would be saying to sit them all to save them for New Zealand. The only caveat would be if our opponent imploded with a red card and the goal differential started to become possible.

 

While it is highly unlikely that we lose by six goals, I'd say it is more likely than usual because no teams really ever sets out with the goal of winning by six goals. Or more importantly, ever really needs to win by six. When Costa Rica beat us 4-0 the last time we played there they weren't trying to beat us 6-0. If they were, they might have. We were that bad. We should be better tonight that we were then. But it's not out of the realm of possibility that we are not going into the game with the same hunger/desire that they are and the game gets away from us.

 

CONCACAF Leaders looking at this and thinking, "We need more of this in our Game to maintain position as world leaders in Shithousery" pic.twitter.com/VlxHVrWH6r

— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) March 29, 2022

If there was a penalty shootout in CR tonight.

 

This is true. But the US also has the advantage of having an objective to achieve even if Costa Rica starts scoring. Usually, there's little difference for a losing team between 4-0 and 6-0, so a losing side sometimes just gives up.

 

I would not be at all surprised for Costa Rica to do all in their power to get one of our guys sent off. Sometimes in CONCACAF all it takes is walking into one of our players and then falling down.

 

Matt Doyle trolling all the MLS haters

Any other league in the world and everyone would be screaming that correlation = causation.

— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) March 30, 2022

 

If we go down 4-0 tonight our team will be so frazzled I would be surprised if we didn't go on to give up six goals.

 

When was the last time there was a six-goal margin of victory in a Hex game?

 

By the way, it's pretty messed up if CONCACAF players have to sit out the playoff against an Oceana team that played just five games in qualification because they got a second yellow in 14 games of qualification.

 

The US did it to Honduras in Bruce Arena's first qualifier in 2017.

 

USA vs Honduras in 2017 is my guess.

 

We have some people of little faith here. If this team just goes out and plays, the most likely outcome is we get at least a point. Losing by 6 would require fielding a completely impotent lineup + lackadaisical play + horrible refereeing + poor decision-making on the pitch. I don't see those things all happening. I'd bet the ranch they don't all happen.

 

Just looked it up, and the only other time this happened was in 1997 when Mexico beat Jamaica 6-0.