EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — After the U.S. gutted out a 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Costa Rica in March, the Costa Rican federation filed a protest over the blizzard conditions. Now the U.S. is itching to make statement in tonight’s Gold Cup rematch: We’ll beat you even worse without the snow.
“Obviously it was a very tough night in Denver a couple months ago,” U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said as his team prepares to close out the group stage tonight at Rentschler Field. “I still think if the game is played on green grass and not the snow coming in, I think we would’ve actually had a clearer result. We were really in very good shape that day.
“[Tonight] we’ll get our best lineup because we want to win this game, absolutely. We want to send out a signal. We want to see where we’re at right now.”
After crushing Cuba and breezing past Belize to secure a berth in the Gold Cup quarterfinals, the Americans know a talented and motivated Costa Rica provides their first true challenge of the tournament — and a preview of the Sept. 6 World Cup qualifier in San Jose.
“We know this is the first real test for us with this group,’’ Klinsmann said. “I think every time these two teams meet — like when the U.S. meets Mexico or Costa Rica meets Mexico — you want to do well, show your opponent where you stand and what you have. You want to beat them. I think this gives you automatically more confidence when you face them the next time.’’
The U.S. is riding a red-hot streak, having tied a team record with seven straight wins. The squad has poured in 16 goals in its past three games, and forward Chris Wondolowski has five goals in the two tournament games, the only U.S. player to tally that many in a single Gold Cup.
With a plus-8 goal differential — compared to Costa Rica’s plus-4 — the only way the U.S. won’t win Group C is if its lose by three or more goals tonight.
“We want to win this group,” Wondolowski said. “We feel very fortunate that we’ve been able to go to the quarterfinals, but we want to win this group and we have to beat Costa Rica or at least get a good result.
“It’s a very difficult task. Costa Rica stays very compact, their back four is very organized. But I believe we have a lot of talent going forward. Especially when we connect our passes, our movement off the ball is something very crucial for us.”