THE BASICS

USMNT vs. Costa Rica

Date: Saturday, February 2nd

Time: 3:30pm ET (12:30pm PT)

TV: FOX (the BIG one), UniMas and UDN

Location: Avaya Stadium (San Jose, CA)

Follow on social: @AmericanOutlaws

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THE HYPE

"Congrats to the #USMNT on an undefeated January." - AO Twitter

When you're digging back from missing the World Cup, you have a new coach, and A LOT of questions... sometime you celebrate the little things in life... even if they're ridiculous. A win. Is a win. Is a win. And the Gregg Berhalter-era is off.

Our Ryan Rosenblatt took the Marie Kondo approach and took joy in last Sunday's win in his wrap piece.

"The USMNT won. The young team looked good. It was downright exciting to watch.

Sometimes, it’s best to leave it at that.

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in what everything means. That’s going to be especially true after missing the World Cup and spending 14 months aimless and in the wilderness. We have to get back to the World Cup, and we’re already running behind. But it doesn’t happen all at once. It definitely doesn’t happen in a January friendly.

What that match in Arizona was was fun. It was positive. It was downright cathartic. And that is something to celebrate."

Let's show the gratitude that match deserves and put it away as we move on to this afternoon matinée against Costa Rica in San Jose (sidebar: how weird is the plane ticket that has San Jose, CR ---> San Jose, CA???).

Berhalter's crew faces another CONCACAF foe to open 2019. Get used to this in 2019. We've got Gold Cup on the horizon this summer and Nations League in the fall all against our hemisphere.

We saw an organized and relatively effective outing last time from our domestic-based youngsters and the hope is that we can put that on repeat today. A few more good looks at some players who could fill a few roster spots come summer when the defense of our Gold Cup title rolls around again would be nice as well.

Here's the USMNT roster: 

Costa Rica has emerged as one of CONCACAF's strongest sides qualifying for four of the last five World Cup five times since 2002, including last year's tournament (what World Cup?!?!?).

The USMNT trails the all-time match up 15-16-6, but have 15-6-4 lead when playing in the U.S.

Here's the Tico's roster:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Esteban Alvarado (Alajuelense; 11/0), Kevin Chamorro (Carmelita; 0/0), Marco Madrigal (San Carlos; 1/0)

DEFENDERS (7): Pablo Arboine (Santos de Guápiles; 0/0), Francisco Calvo (Minnesota United FC/USA; 43/4), Waylon Francis (Seattle Sounders FC/USA; 5/0), Keysher Fuller (Herediano; 0/0), Jaikel Medina (Saprissa; 0/0), Joseph Mora (D.C. United/USA; 2/0), Yostin Salinas (Saprissa; 2/0)

MIDFIELDERS (9): José Alfaro (Carmelita; 0/0), Ronaldo Araya (Cartaginés; 0/0), José Miguel Cubero (Alajuelense; 51/2), David Guzmán (Portland Timbers/USA; 52/0), Marvin Loría (Portland Timbers/USA; 0/0), Jimmy Marín (Herediano; 3/0), Néstor Monge (Cartaginés; 5/0), Barlon Sequeira (Alajuelense; 1/0)

FORWARDS (4): Jonathan McDonald (Alajuelense; 11/1), José Guillermo Ortiz (Herediano; 6/2), Jean Scott (Guadalupe; 0/0), Yendrick Ruiz (Herediano; 8/0)

We'll crib from Ryan's Panama wrap again as we close here:

"What we can say is that we had fun. That it felt like our team. That it made us happy and proud. And for one day, one friendly at the start of a year, that’s enough. Hell, that’s everything."

Let's find that feeling again today. Let's have some fun, preferably with your AO brethren at a chapter bar.

XOXO,

AO

PS: Looking for AO tickets for upcoming MNT and WNT games? Check out the event page on the American Outlaws website for all the latest links.