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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Costa Rica v USA: World Cup qualifying – live! | Costa Rica v USA: World Cup qualifying – live! |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 1.47am GMT | |
| 01:47 | |
| A bit of admin from elsewhere: Honduras beat Trinidad & Tobago 3-1 in Concacaf, which means T&T stay bottom with zero points, and Honduras bounce back from their home defeat by Panama on Friday. | |
| And in Conmebol, Argentina have just beaten Colombia 3-0, while Electric Sanchez scored two in Chile’s 3-1 defeat of Uruguay. Claudio Bravo saved Luis Suarez’s penalty with three minutes to go in that game, incidentally. | |
| All of which means that with six games to go, it’s Colombia who are currently on the outside looking in. More results and tables here. | |
| 1.35am GMT | |
| 01:35 | |
| So Jürgen Klinsmann picks basically the same side that lost to Mexico, apart from Guzan in goal, but he does revert to a 4-4-2 formation. | |
| Timmy Chandler will begin at right-back, John Brooks and Omar Gonzalez line up in central defense, and Matt Besler starts left back. Pulisic and Johnson will begin in the wide positions, and Alejandro Bedoya will take no part because of tightness in his left hamstring. | |
| 1.32am GMT | |
| 01:32 | |
| Tonight's teams | |
| Costa Rica: Keylor Navas, Alvarado, Salvatierra, Umana, Borges, Bolanos, Ruiz, Venegas, Azofeifa, Waston, Matarrita. Subs: Pemberton, Moreira, Salazar, Oviedo, Rodriguez, Campbell, Wallace, Miranda, Guzman, Urena. | |
| USA: Guzan, Gonzalez, Bradley, Besler, Brooks, Wood, Pulisic, Jones, Altidore, Chandler, Johnson. Subs: Horvath, Yarbrough, Yedlin, Gordon, Johannsson, Gooch, Orozco, Birnbaum, Kljestan, Green, Zusi, Carter-Vickers. | |
| Referee: Cesar Ramos (Mexico) | |
| 1.18am GMT | |
| 01:18 | |
| Hello and welcome | |
| USA lost to Mexico on Friday; they could do with victory in Costa Rica today in their second game of the Concacaf Hex. If they don’t win, qualification for Russia 2018 might start to get away from them. One problem: USA have never won in Costa Rica – in nine games there, they’ve lost eight. Eight! Also, Costa Rica are good, ranked 18 in the world to USA’s 24. Tim Howard is injured, Brad Guzan comes in, and Klinsmann’s nerves might start to fray a little if his team don’t start well in San Jose. | |
| Kick off is 9.05pm ET. This could be intriguing. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.19am GMT | |
| 10.03pm GMT | 10.03pm GMT |
| 22:03 | 22:03 |
| Tim will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s what Jürgen Klinsmann needs to do: | Tim will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s what Jürgen Klinsmann needs to do: |
| The big issues for Klinsmann were in defense on Friday. The three center-backs who started the game were pulled all over the place, while on the outside Fabian Johnson and Timothy Chandler had limited impact other than giving up space. Eventually Chandler made way for DeAndre Yedlin, and you’d imagine Yedlin might start on Tuesday. | The big issues for Klinsmann were in defense on Friday. The three center-backs who started the game were pulled all over the place, while on the outside Fabian Johnson and Timothy Chandler had limited impact other than giving up space. Eventually Chandler made way for DeAndre Yedlin, and you’d imagine Yedlin might start on Tuesday. |
| One player who won’t be starting on Tuesday is Tim Howard, who picked up a season-ending abductor injury against Mexico. So Brad Guzan, currently frozen out at Middlesbrough, will get another chance in goal. | One player who won’t be starting on Tuesday is Tim Howard, who picked up a season-ending abductor injury against Mexico. So Brad Guzan, currently frozen out at Middlesbrough, will get another chance in goal. |
| Klinsmann cannot afford another poor start, and his team probably need to keep sight of the fact that under the circumstances, not losing further ground to a likely rival in the final standings is preferable to being picked off for a loss while over-committing. It might be very telling who he chooses to use as a substitute though, if the game is tight heading into the closing stages. If you see Sacha Kljestan coming in, to try and pass behind the defense or drift into pockets of space in front of them, you’ll know that Klinsmann believes his team control their own destiny and just need some finesse. If you see Alan Gordon warming up, know that Klinsmann just needs a goal, any goal. | Klinsmann cannot afford another poor start, and his team probably need to keep sight of the fact that under the circumstances, not losing further ground to a likely rival in the final standings is preferable to being picked off for a loss while over-committing. It might be very telling who he chooses to use as a substitute though, if the game is tight heading into the closing stages. If you see Sacha Kljestan coming in, to try and pass behind the defense or drift into pockets of space in front of them, you’ll know that Klinsmann believes his team control their own destiny and just need some finesse. If you see Alan Gordon warming up, know that Klinsmann just needs a goal, any goal. |
| So it’s early in the Hex, but the major themes for the group, and the tenor for the USA’s campaign in particular, could be set by Tuesday night. | So it’s early in the Hex, but the major themes for the group, and the tenor for the USA’s campaign in particular, could be set by Tuesday night. |