The US u23’s just got over the line to register a highly significant opening victory, but needed all their craft and resolve against a better conditioned opponent.
The Costa Ricans have been playing league football consistently since September with most of the American squad enduring their longest close-season break since MLS began. And it showed.
This, and altitude, will be a factor that weighs unfavourably against the Canadians when they open their campaign against El Salvador tomorrow evening (OneSoccer.com, 6pm). The Canucks will need to display the same levels of US professionalism and grit if they are to take 3 points from central American opponents, whose players, just like Costa Rica’s, have months of consistent league play behind them.