Roy Miller may be having his share of troubles with the New York Red Bulls, but that is not preventing Costa Rica head coach Jorge Luis Pinto from starting him in Friday night's World Cup qualifier against the US men's national team (10 pm ET; ESPN/UniMas, LIVE chat on MLSsoccer.com).
According to Costa Rican reports, Pinto named Miller as part of a five-man backline that Los Ticos will deploy against the Americans in the match at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo. The left back will be tasked with helping stymie Clint Dempsey and the rest of a US attack that will be expected to take the game to Costa Rica in an attempt to pick up their first points in this final round of CONCACAF qualifying.
Miller has had his recent struggles at the club level. He was largely criticized for his involvement in the Red Bulls' 2-1 road loss to the San Jose Earthquakes on March 10 — a game in which he was whistled for a late handball before encroaching on the ensuing penalty kick that was saved, then converted on the retake — and was lambasted for admitting that he stepped into the penalty area early on purpose on the game's decisive play.
The Red Bulls left back has started and played 90 minutes in two of New York's first three games of the season.
