FIFA World Cup 2014 : Preview and tip for game USA vs Costa Rica

In the morning of 23 March 2013, U.S.A. will play against Costa Rica in the second match in the last phase of the preliminaries for the World Cup, held in Brasil, North and Central America region. In this last phase of the competition, six teams have qualified and three of them will proceed directly to the World Championship, the fourth place leading to a tiebreak.

U.S.A. was defeated with the score of  1 to 2 by Honduras in the first match, thus being at the bottom of the rank and they, obviously, need a victory. The match will take place on Dick`s Sporting Goods Park from Denver, Colorado. Klismann has announced that Dempsey will be the captain of the team in these preliminaries for the World Cup, held in Brasil in 2014. In the offense position, the German coach will start with Gomez, that will be supported by Dempsey and Johnson. Jozy Altidore will be left on the bench for this match. Aston Villa will play as gatekeeper and Guzan as a middle fielder, we will also find Bradley (AS Rome) and Jones (Schalke).  In 2013, besides the defeat against Honduras, U.S.A has drawn a score of 0 to 0 with Canada. After this meeting, U.S.A. will play against Mexico and a victory is necessary, in order to have a good start. Jurgen Kismann will not be able to rely on many players for this match, such as Edgar Castillo, Timmy Chadler, Steve Cherundolo, Tim Howard, Fabian Johnson, Jonathan Spector, Jose Torres and Danny Williams. If the players, Michael Bradley, Dempsey, Maurice Edu and Graham Zusi will receive another yellow card, they will be suspended for the next match.

Costa Rica made a draw of 2 to 2 with Panama in the first match played and now lies on the second position in the rank. Before this game, Costa Rica played in the Copa Centroamericana where it won four matches and made one draw. In the last two matches, Costa Rica was not defeated. In 2011, in the last direct game between these two teams, Costa Rica won with 1 to 0 against U.S.A., but the match was only a friendly one. In the last five direct matches played against Costa Rica,  U.S.A.  was not able to win a single one and now will surely want to rematch. The last victory of the Americans dates back to 2005. Bryan Ruiz is definitely the star of the Costa Ricans in this match. Christian Gamboa (Rosenborg), Giancarlo (Valerenga) and Bryan Oviedo ( Everton) are other players that are playing in Europe, all being quarterbacks. The first two are announced as keepers for this particular match.

U.S.A. – Costa Rica probable teams :

U.S.A. : Guzan - Beasley, Gonzalez, Edu, Cameron – Beckerman, Bradley, Jones – Eddie Johnson, Dempsey - Gomez.

Costa Rica : Pemberton -  Gamboa, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Umaña, Meneses -  Bolaños, Borges, Ariel Rodriguez –  Campbell, Saborio, Ruiz.

Betting odds for S.U.A.– Costa Rica:

Final outcome : 1.57 3.75 6.00

More/Less than 2.5 goals : 1.85 1.95

Predictions: U.S.A. – Costa Rica > U.S.A. at an odd of 1.57

Argumentation : The U.S.A, will start badly this qualifying phase for the World Cup if they do not win. Costa Rica now has a powerful team, but it will be hard for them to get points from the match held in Colorado.