On tap: USMNT @ Costa Rica

Ohhhh, it's gonna be a late night for me. The Distracter hates it. "You need sleep!", she says. She makes a cute fuss.

In any event, tonight's scary World Cup qualifying visit to Saprissa to face Costa Rica constitutes what I would consider a close second to Azteca as the trickiest CONCACAF match. While that may be subjective, the Ticos do stand second in the hex, one point behind our fearless leaders.

Who do I think should start, and in what set? We won't get into that. Who do I expect to start? With what I'd consider a 50/50 choice at each wingback, I'll go with... Howard, Spector, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Bornstein, Bradley, Mastroeni, Dempsey, Beasley, Donovan, Ching.

Who do I think we need to be extra careful with? Easy - the trio of Gent's slippery Bryan Ruiz, in-form IK Start playmaker Cristian Bolanos and midfielder Carlos "oh dear sweet lord, do NOT let him have room to fire from the top of the area!" Hernandez. The U.S. will need to be cool and stay in front of these three guys. If they start running free and finding time on the ball...

What do I predict will be the result? a 2-2 draw. We have some weary legs on the back six and I never figured we'd shut out the Ticos unless Timmay enjoyed an absolute blinder AND got luck with the woodwork. So yeah, I believe this will be more fun for the fans than it is for the coaches.

As always, we adjourn to the media room:

- USMNT match notes
- FIFA's match preview
- Edu to miss Confederations Cup
- Tuesday press conference (mp3 link)
- Jack Bell recalls past Saprissa visits
- Ronald Blum features Clint Dempsey
- Run DMB on his busy summer
- Luis Bueno talks Ticos talent
- Michelle Kaufmann talks fake turf
- Jason Davis' 5 reasons we can win
- Ginge's rebuttal 5 reasons we can't
- Bradley confident over right backs
- Deuce all set to celebrate 50th cap

Today's Studio 90 report...




And here is a reminder to anyone feeling overconfident of what happened the last time we went to Costa Rica for a WCQ back in 2005...




- Greg Seltzer