The Pressure's On!

This week is a huge week for the United States Men's National Team as they have two crucial World Cup qualifiers this Wednesday, June 3rd, in Costa Rica and at home (Chicago) on Saturday, June 6th, against Honduras.
Normally, the matches would be difficult but this time things are not normal - the challenge is difficult, but not out of reach. Besides, this is World Cup qualifying, so nothing is easy. Since the U.S. is participating in the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa this month, the match at Costa Rica was moved up a week to June 3rd from June 10th. What does this really mean? Simple, the U.S. will have to fly back from Costa Rica to Chicago and take on a well rested Honduras squad. Not an easy task considering the last time the U.S. lost a home match in World Cup qualifying, they lost to Honduras. Honduras just defeated Mexico at home and are full of confidence and a win in the U.S, it would pay huge dividends for the Catrachos.
With Costa Rica, it's a different story. The Americans are 0-6-1 all-time in Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying and the Costa Ricans are intent on making it 0-7-1. The stadium in San Jose is emtremely intimidating. A fence surrounds the field about 10 yards from the touchlines. The fans are full of energy and raucous. Also, their field is Field Turf, so the game will be fast.
It is vital the U.S. does well. Their next match after these two is against Mexico is the altitude and smog of Azteca in Mexico City. Like I (and the rest of the "soccer world") always state: Win your home matches (for 3 points) and try to steal a point on the road with a draw. Now, if the U.S. is able to claim all 6 points, they can pretty much start booking flights to South Africa for next summer's World Cup, but I would be extremely surprised if this occurs. Four (4) points is the goal, in my opinion. The U.S. will still be in decent shape with 3 points. Anything less and the American's backs will be up against the wall - but that's a different story and let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's a big week and two big games. My preview of the Costa Rica match will be up either tomorrow evening ot Wednesday. Wednesday's match can be seen live on ESPN(HD) and Galavision at 10:00 PM Eastern.