USA Men's National Team Training Report

Goal.com's Noah Davis is on the scene in Washington, D.C., ahead of the United States' game versus Costa Rica.

Oct 12, 2009 10:59:38 PM

More On : Costa Rica, USA

By Noah Davis

On Saturday in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the United States Men's National Team achieved goal No. 1 on its list: Qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

With one game remaining in the Hexagonal round -- Wednesday's fixture against a desperate Costa Rica at RFK Stadium -- there's still another accomplishment to achieve.

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"We want to finish on the top of the group and give us, if there's any hope, a slim hope of getting a seed for the World Cup," Jozy Altidore said after training with the squad in Washington D.C. on Monday afternoon.

'Winning the group' is a refrain that's been echoed since the Americans clinched a birth with their impressive 3-2 victory in Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano.

"We have a lot of pride. We want to win the group," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said when speaking to journalists who made the trip to RFK's auxiliary fields. "We know that we need to be ready because Costa Rica will throw everything they have into it."

There would also be a measure of revenge in beating the Ticos, who ambushed the Americans 3-1 in San Jose. Bradley called the defeat the low point of the final round of qualification.

"If there was one game that we still look back upon as being disappointing, it was the Costa Rica game," he said.

Altidore agreed with his coach's assessment. "We want to bounce back from that game, definitely," the 20-year-old striker said.

Jozy Altidore

A loss or tie could leave the Central American side in fourth place, forcing them to play a home-and-away series with the fifth-place finisher in CONMEBOL. It would be a difficult ending for a team that was sitting on top of the Hex through sixth matches.

All signs point to the U.S. fielding a strong team, but the game also represents one more opportunity for fringe players to impress the coaching staff.

"Although we've already qualified, it's another chance to show the coaches what you can do on this level," said Stuart Holden, who got his first qualifying start against Honduras.

The Houston Dynamo midfielder struggled early against the Catrachos, but settled in and delivered a brilliant cross that Charlie Davies nearly put home for the game's first goal.

Despite being assured a spot in South Africa, the U.S. manager says his troops have remained focused on the task at hand. "

[It's the] second game in a row we're playing against a team that knows a win gets them into the World Cup," Bradley said, later adding, "I think there's a solid enough level of maturity in the group to understand all that."

This doesn't mean that the players haven't entertained thoughts of playing on the world's biggest stage.

"We have a special group here and under the right circumstances, I think we can do really well," Holden said.

Noah Davis covers the United States Men's National Team for Goal.com.

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