USA vs Costa Rica Preview

Topics: USA, Costa Rica, World Cup 2014, CONCACAF, Bryan Ruiz, Clint Dempsey

A defeat against Honduras has the United States needing a victory on Friday night against Costa Rica. With Mexico next up on their schedule, anything other than the three points would be disappointing.

The United States will play their first World Cup Qualification match on home soil on Friday night when they welcome Costa Rica to Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Colorado. Their next match will be against Mexico, so failure to grab the full three points against Costa Rica could spell trouble for Jurgen Klinsmann's squad.

Since taking over as manager, Klinsmann has been criticized by many due to the lack of consistency and positive results. If his side is to turn things around on Friday night, they are going to have to do it without Tim Howard, Fabian Johnson, Edgar Castillo, Danny Williams and Jose Torres.

Clint Dempsey will be in the squad on Friday, but he is carrying a yellow card along with Michael Bradley, Graham Zusi and Maurice Edu, which could see them miss the match against Mexico if they are cautioned against Costa Rica. The Tottenham star will get a chance to go up against his former Fulham teammate Bryan Ruiz.

Winning this match at home is a must for the United States, especially when you realize that a match against Mexico will be extremely difficult, but not impossible to at least grab a point.

One worry for Klinsmann will be the fact that four of his defenders that were called up have a combined total of seven international caps. Will Bryan Ruiz and company be able to take advantage of the USA's inexperienced players?

Having to deal with Ruiz, Joel Campbell who is on loan at Betis from Arsenal and Alvaro Saborio will not be an easy task. These three players offer an incredible amount of mobility and excitement to Costa Rica's offense.

The hosts will most likely control the pace of the game, or at least they should do so, but Costa Rica will be ready to hit them on the counter-attack.