Las Ticas to play top-ranked U.S. soccer team for Olympic spot

The solo hope for the Costa Rica women’s soccer team to qualify for the 2012 Summer Games is to defeat the top-ranked team in the world. Luckily for the Ticas, the United States might be without star goalie Hope Solo.

Costa Rica plays the U.S. tonight at 7 p.m. in Vancouver, Canada, in the semifinals of the Concacaf Olympic qualifying tournament. The winner of this match and the other semifinal, Canada vs. Mexico, qualifies for London. The losers are eliminated.

Costa Rica is 0-7 all-time versus the U.S. and has been outscored 34-0 in those matches.

The U.S. women’s team, runners-up in the last World Cup, already routed the Dominican Republic (14-0), Guatemala (13-0) and Mexico (4-0) in the tournament. The 41st-ranked Ticas defeated Cuba and Haiti and took a loss to Canada.