Days after his team lost a home qualifier to Mexico for the first time in over 40 years, Jurgen Klinsmann is hoping the US national team can make their own history in Costa Rica.
The USMNT will take on Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier in San Jose on Tuesday night (9 pm ET; beIN SPORTS, NBC Universo), just four days after falling 2-1 to Mexico in their Hexagonal opener in Columbus.
The US have a never won a qualifier in Costa Rica, posting an all-time 0-8-1 record in competitive matches in the Central American country. Despite that, Klinsmann believes his squad can pull out a result on Tuesday against Costa Rica, who the US smashed 4-0 in the Copa America Centenario in June.
“We can win here,” Klinsmann told a group of reporters at the USMNT hotel in San Jose on Monday, according to ESPN FC's Doug McIntyre. “We can absolutely win here. Will it take a lot of effort and things need[ing] to click to work? Absolutely.”
Klinsmann also reflected on his team’s loss to Mexico on Friday, saying that the US – which fell behind early and equalized early in the second half before allowing an 89th-minute winner – should have fared better vs. their longtime rivals.
“We should’ve beaten Mexico,” he said. “We didn’t knock them off with the second goal and then out of the blue they get a corner kick and then [on an] individual mistake, they score. There’s a very small margin in all of those games.”
