It seems almost absurd that the U.S. men’s soccer team is set to meet Costa Rica in a game of consequence for the fourth time in the last 15 months.
They’ve met in the Copa América Centenario. They’ve met in World Cup qualifying. They’ve met in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. You can even add a friendly match played in October of 2015 to the list — in part because it also took place at Red Bull Arena, the site of Friday’s World Cup qualifier.
The stakes have only grown each time. So when Alejandro Bedoya called this round “probably the biggest game so far,” it wasn’t just hype.