On Wednesday evening, the Costa Rica men’s national soccer team faces the United States in a World Cup qualifier. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. local (5 p.m. in Costa Rica) at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio.
We thought this would be a good opportunity to remember the last qualifying cycle, when Costa Rica faced the U.S. twice in the hexagonal. Let’s take a look back, shall we?
In November 2016, Joel Campbell and La Sele embarrassed the USMNT, 4-0, at the National Stadium in La Sabana:
Days after the Costa Rica loss, the U.S. Soccer Federation fired its coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, in the hopes that a new leader would salvage the USMNT’s World Cup aspirations.
But La Sele would deliver another blow the following September, using a Marco Ureña brace to claim a 2-0 victory in a decidedly pro-Costa Rica Red Bull Arena in New Jersey:
The United States would fail to qualify for the 2018 World Cup after losing to Trinidad & Tobago the following month.
