USMNT vs. Costa Rica live stream: How to watch World Cup qualifier online

The United States Men’s National Team has given themselves some breathing room in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, but they’re still treating Friday night’s game as a must-win. The Americans are expecting three points when they face off against Costa Rica in New Jersey.

During these teams’ first meeting in World Cup qualifying, Los Ticos won in a blowout. The Americans were thoroughly embarrassed in a 4-0 defeat that caused Jurgen Klinsmann to lose his job.

Since then, the USMNT has not tasted defeat and even recorded a win over Costa Rica in the most recent Gold Cup. Neither team had all of their best players available, but the USMNT recorded a very comfortable 2-0 win en route to capturing the trophy while both teams were fielding B-plus squads.

Costa Rica currently sits second in the CONCACAF hex table on 11 points, while the Americans are third on eight points. Both are expected to hold off the teams below them to make the World Cup, but could really solidify their position with a good result on Friday.

The USMNT is mostly healthy, but is missing a couple of key contributors due to injury. Usual starting center back John Brooks is out for the rest of qualifying, while right back DeAndre Yedlin is still working his way back from an injury he sustained last season. Costa Rica does not have Joel Campbell available, and they do not have other regulars Roy Miller and Oscar Duarte in the squad.

Christian Pulisic is expected to play a big role for the USMNT, but he admits he has a lot to improve on.

“I think I have a lot of things to improve on, from just growing physically and being stronger to continue to improve on doing what I do best, going at defenders, finding new ways to attack defenses and help my team on the offensive side,” Pulisic said at a U.S. Soccer press conference this week.

While these teams are fairly evenly matched, they usually struggled away from home against each other. Who knows how they’d play on a neutral site, but in the United States — and given the USMNT’s undefeated record under new manager Bruce Arena — expect the Americans to win on Friday.

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