USA vs. Costa Rica
International Friendly
Feb. 2, 2019
Avaya Stadium; San Jose, Calif.
Live Broadcast: 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, UniMas and UDN
Tonight’s U.S. MNT Starting XI vs. Costa Rica: 1-Zack Steffen, 2-Nick Lima, 3-Aaron Long (capt.), 5-Daniel Lovitz, 6-Wil Trapp,
7-Corey Baird, 8-Djordje Mihailovic, 9-Gyasi Zardes, 10-Cristian Roldan, 14-Paul Arriola, 25-Walker Zimmerman
Substitutes: 12-Sean Johnson, 4-Michael Bradley, 11-Jeremy Ebobisse, 13-Reggie Cannon, 17-Sebastian Lletget, 18-Jonathan Lewis, 21-Christian Ramirez, 23-Auston Trusty
- U.S. MNT Starting XI Cap Numbers (including this match): Gyasi Zardes (42), Paul Arriola (19), Wil Trapp (13), Zack Steffen (8), Cristian Roldan (7), Walker Zimmerman (6), Aaron Long (4), Corey Baird (2), Nick Lima (2), Daniel Lovitz (2), Djordje Mihailovic (2)
- Fresh off his Budweiser Man of the Match performance against Panama, San Jose Earthquakes defender Nick Lima gets a start on familiar terrain at Avaya Stadium. Before signing as a Homegrown player for the ‘Quakes, the Castro Valley, Calif. defender played collegiately at the University of California from 2013-16.
- Today’s Starting XI has an average age of 24 years, 268 days and 9.7 caps.
- Gregg Berhalter makes two changes to the Starting XI that faced Panama, with Wil Trapp and Paul Arriola replacing Michael Bradley and Jeremy Ebobisse, respectively.
- A three-time NCAA College Cup champion at Stanford, winger Corey Baird gets a second-straight start not far from his old stomping grounds in Palo Alto.
- Defender Aaron Long captains the MNT for the second time tonight.
- While the back line stays the same for a second straight match, Long and Walker Zimmerman partner in central defense for a third-consecutive time.
- The 11 players represent nine different MLS clubs: Steffen, Trapp and Zardes (Columbus Crew SC), Arriola (D.C. United), Baird (Real Salt Lake), Lima (San Jose Earthquakes), Long (New York Red Bulls), Lovitz (Montreal Impact), Mihailovic (Chicago Fire), Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC), Zimmerman (LAFC).
- In his first camp with the senior MNT, Auston Trusty is the only player on the game-day roster still looking for his first cap.
- The USA trails Costa Rica in the all-time series by a mark of 15-16-6.
- With the MNT dressing 20 players, Russell Canouse, Mark McKenzie, and Keegan Rosenberry are not in uniform today. Teams are allowed to make six substitutions.
- Today’s match marks the third time the USA and Costa Rica have played on Feb. 2. During the 1990 meeting in Miami, three-time FIFA World Cup veteran and future National Soccer Hall of Fame member Eric Wynalda made his MNT debut in a 2-0 friendly defeat. Twelve years later the teams met in the 2002 Concacaf Gold Cup Final, with current MNT assistant coach Josh Wolff scoring the opening goal as the USA cruised to a 2-0 win and its second confederation championship at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
- Today marks the second time the USA has faced one opponent three different times on the same date, having previously faced England on May 28 in 1959, 2005 and 2008.
- The MNT is 1-0-0 all-time at Avaya Stadium, having defeated Honduras 6-0 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifier on March 24, 2017. Overall, the MNT is 3-0-2 in San Jose, Calif.