NEW YORK – It's a familiar refrain for the US national team these days: a crucial game is just days away, but the backline is littered with question marks.
Nonetheless, the Americans remain confident in their chances, just as they've always been in these situations.
The US are set to host Costa Rica on Friday night in a World Cup qualifier at Red Bull Arena (6:30 pm ET; ESPN, Univision, UDN), but enter the match missing a pair of key defensive pieces: center back John Brooks and right back DeAndre Yedlin, both of whom are out with injuries. Add to that the fact that center back Omar Gonzalez and left back Jorge Villafana have been limited to three of their teams' first seven games in the nascent Liga MX season, and head coach Bruce Arena could be forgiven for being somewhat preoccupied with the state of his defense.
But Arena is not overly concerned about how his backline will fare against Los Ticos or in the wilting Honduran heat on Sept. 5 (5:30 pm ET; beIN Sports, NBC Universo). After all, he has seen the defensive depth on his team shine on multiple occasions in 2017.
“We’ve been through a number of games this year with a number of players missing, in the back line and elsewhere,” said Arena at a press conference in Manhattan on Tuesday. “We started in March, against Honduras, missing a large contingent of experienced players and yet we survived. I anticipate this time around, despite the fact that we’re going to be missing some good players, our backline will be fine.
“We’ve gotten a lot of experience together in 2017, and I think whatever players we choose to play on Friday will step up and get the job done.”
Goalkeeper Tim Howard agreed with Arena. Yes, there is a benefit to having your defensive unit completely established and available so as to have the players in it all on the same page.
Of course, that is not always possible, and now players like Gonzalez, Matt Besler, and DaMarcus Beasley will have to step in and pick up the slack.
“I point back to the Trinidad game and the Mexico game [in June],” said Howard. “Bruce calls in 23-25 players who he’s prepared to play. We got a result against Trinidad and changed the team a couple days later. People felt it might be the flu, but there was a purpose behind it.
“Whoever steps in on this roster is expected to perform, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
As for the other end of the field, Arena is more than pleased with the players he has called in. He has tough decisions to make with regards to who will start between Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Bobby Wood, Jordan Morris, and Chris Wondolowski, but having so many weapons at your disposal is typically not a bad problem to have.
“I like our strikers here,” said Arena. “The combination of Altidore and Wood and Dempsey and Morris and Wondolowski gives us a lot of options. They’re very good players and I think the one thing that gives me so much optimism is that they’re all in very good form right now.
“Whoever we choose over these next couple of games are going to be dangerous, so I’m real comfortable with the group of strikers we have here.”
