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Costa Rica's Success Not Solely Because Of Saprissa
The Costa Ricans have fielded increasingly strong rosters over the years and have given the Americans fits because of it.
Jun 3, 2009 12:32:00 AM
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Entering Wednesday's game in Central America, the U.S. national team is winless in seven qualifiers in Costa Rica. While the atmosphere and overall environment at Estadio Saprissa is one
factor that favors the locals, there is another part to that one-sided
history: Costa Rica themselves.
"When people talk about Costa Rica, they talk about the turf and Estadio Saprissa and their fans but Costa Rica is a strong team, a team that plays very well, with confidence especially here in Costa Rica," U.S. forward Landon Donovan said. "All that makes for a great team."
Donovan and the U.S. will try to slay one of their few regional ghosts on Wednesday as the U.S. has never won a qualifying game in Costa Rica. The Ticos will bring a strong squad to their game against the Americans and along with the crowd, the surface and even possibly the officials, Costa Rica has plenty on its side to feel good about.
The last thing the U.S. is going to do is overlook their opponents, defender Carlos Bocanegra said.
"You can't ever come out and take a team lightly. We know it's not going to be any different (Wednesday) night," Bocanegra said. "They're going to come out with a lot of energy. The crowd gets behind them really well so all those things you kind of keep in your memory but our biggest thing is that we need to go out there and match their energy level and... try to impose oursevles and control the game to how we want it to go."
Estadio Saprissa has been an impenetrable force for the Americans but the Costa Ricans have also featured strong and talented teams against the U.S. This time is no different as Costa Rica features players such as Walter Centeno, Bryan Ruiz and Harold Wallace.
But when asked about the Costa Ricans, U.S. midfielder Pablo Mastroeni said their own players and formation would determine their success.
"I think for us it’s important to really focus on what we need to do. And I think the more often we revert back to that and we continue to do the tings we do the more likely we’ll have success. The more we adapt to the different calls, adapt to the different schemes, adapt to the different ways that players are playing, I think that they will then impose themselves on us," Mastroeni said. "We know that the calls aren’t necessarily going to go our way and the quicker that we react to the next play the better position we’ll be in to impose our will against them. I think it’s going to be a chess match throughout. I think it’s going to be a lot of them coming at us and us finding ways to then be threatening towards them, and the game is going to be controlled in a lot of different areas, but I think the team that does that more will more likely have more success."
Mastroeni cautioned against focusing on any one player, however.
"They’ve got players coming in and out of their roster. Players that have been scoring that aren’t currently playing. I think for us, we know that they like to come out of the back playing. Their central midfielders like to get on the ball a lot. They like to dictate the pace of the game. Their wingers like to get forward. I think more important than any individual players it’s important that we stay connected as a group and kind of stifle any interior passes into their forwards from their central midfielders."
This seemingly places a lot of pressure on the central midfield, where the U.S. is deepest. Along with Mastroeni, one of the few Americans on the roster who has played in Costa Rica, U.S. coach Bob Bradley could opt for Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan, Jose Francisco Torres, Benny Feilhaber or Ricardo Clark, a late addition to the roster.
"It’s going to be a lot of emphasis on us in the midfield to really shut down those passing lanes, put a little more pressure on them because they are skillful individuals all over the field," Mastroeni said. "For us collectively as a team playing good solid defense and breaking out when we can versus worrying about individual players that can do us because they have players all over the field that are capable in any given game to put points on the board."
Luis Bueno, Goal.com
Check out more of Goal.com for dedicated coverage of the U.S. national team.
"When people talk about Costa Rica, they talk about the turf and Estadio Saprissa and their fans but Costa Rica is a strong team, a team that plays very well, with confidence especially here in Costa Rica," U.S. forward Landon Donovan said. "All that makes for a great team."
Donovan and the U.S. will try to slay one of their few regional ghosts on Wednesday as the U.S. has never won a qualifying game in Costa Rica. The Ticos will bring a strong squad to their game against the Americans and along with the crowd, the surface and even possibly the officials, Costa Rica has plenty on its side to feel good about.
The last thing the U.S. is going to do is overlook their opponents, defender Carlos Bocanegra said.
"You can't ever come out and take a team lightly. We know it's not going to be any different (Wednesday) night," Bocanegra said. "They're going to come out with a lot of energy. The crowd gets behind them really well so all those things you kind of keep in your memory but our biggest thing is that we need to go out there and match their energy level and... try to impose oursevles and control the game to how we want it to go."
Estadio Saprissa has been an impenetrable force for the Americans but the Costa Ricans have also featured strong and talented teams against the U.S. This time is no different as Costa Rica features players such as Walter Centeno, Bryan Ruiz and Harold Wallace.
But when asked about the Costa Ricans, U.S. midfielder Pablo Mastroeni said their own players and formation would determine their success.
"I think for us it’s important to really focus on what we need to do. And I think the more often we revert back to that and we continue to do the tings we do the more likely we’ll have success. The more we adapt to the different calls, adapt to the different schemes, adapt to the different ways that players are playing, I think that they will then impose themselves on us," Mastroeni said. "We know that the calls aren’t necessarily going to go our way and the quicker that we react to the next play the better position we’ll be in to impose our will against them. I think it’s going to be a chess match throughout. I think it’s going to be a lot of them coming at us and us finding ways to then be threatening towards them, and the game is going to be controlled in a lot of different areas, but I think the team that does that more will more likely have more success."
Mastroeni cautioned against focusing on any one player, however.
"They’ve got players coming in and out of their roster. Players that have been scoring that aren’t currently playing. I think for us, we know that they like to come out of the back playing. Their central midfielders like to get on the ball a lot. They like to dictate the pace of the game. Their wingers like to get forward. I think more important than any individual players it’s important that we stay connected as a group and kind of stifle any interior passes into their forwards from their central midfielders."
This seemingly places a lot of pressure on the central midfield, where the U.S. is deepest. Along with Mastroeni, one of the few Americans on the roster who has played in Costa Rica, U.S. coach Bob Bradley could opt for Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan, Jose Francisco Torres, Benny Feilhaber or Ricardo Clark, a late addition to the roster.
"It’s going to be a lot of emphasis on us in the midfield to really shut down those passing lanes, put a little more pressure on them because they are skillful individuals all over the field," Mastroeni said. "For us collectively as a team playing good solid defense and breaking out when we can versus worrying about individual players that can do us because they have players all over the field that are capable in any given game to put points on the board."
Luis Bueno, Goal.com
Check out more of Goal.com for dedicated coverage of the U.S. national team.
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