The U.S. Men’s National Team is kicking off a pivotal 2025 with its traditional January camp and a pair of friendlies, during which coach Mauricio Pochettino has an opportunity to assess a cohort of domestic prospects hoping to solidify or advance their position on the depth chart.
The build toward the 2026 World Cup will be anchored this year by the Concacaf Nations League final four in March and then, critically, the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup in June and July.
But it’s beginning in Florida with two weeks of training and matches against Venezuela and Costa Rica. On Jan. 18 in Fort Lauderdale, eight players earned their first USMNT cap and three scored their first goal as the Americans defeated Venezuela, 3-1. Camp concludes Jan. 22 in Orlando at Inter&Co Stadium, where the USA will entertain long-time Concacaf rival Costa Rica.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast by TNT, TruTV, Universo, Max, Peacock and Fútbol de Primera radio. Tickets are available here.
Although Costa Rica is a familiar adversary, this is the first meeting between the teams in nearly three years. Here are five things to know about Los Ticos:
SOCCER IN COSTA RICA
There are exceptions during particular stretches or competitions but for the most part and over the long term, Costa Rica has been Concacaf’s most consistently competitive nation outside the USA and Mexico.
The senior national team has won three Concacaf championships and qualified for six World Cups, more than anyone but the two aforementioned powers. Los Ticos are also the last Concacaf member to reach the World Cup quarterfinals. They advanced to the final eight in 2014 before falling to the Netherlands on penalties. At the club level, only Liga MX sides have won more Champions Cup crowns than Costa Rica’s six (shared by Saprissa, Alajuelense and Cartaginés).
That historic standing has come under pressure recently thanks to some frustrating results at the Concacaf Gold Cup, where it’s reached the semis just once since 2009. To the east, Panama’s emergence also threatens. Although it’s qualified for just one World Cup (2018), Panama has fared better in recent Gold Cups and Nations League tournaments—not to mention last year’s Copa América—and are above Costa Rica in the current FIFA rankings.
But Costa Rica’s pedigree and potential remain impressive. And Los Ticos will be relying on both as they look to replenish a talent pool depleted by the recent or pending departures of legends like Celso Borges, Bryan Ruiz, Joel Campbell, Álvaro Saborío and Keylor Navas.
Costa Rica has sent dozens of players to MLS, including Real Salt Lake icon Álvaro Saborío, two-time Best XI honoree Kendall Waston and long-time Chicago Fire star Gonzalo Segares, who’s now the U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team head coach.
USMNT HISTORY VS. COSTA RICA
Matches against Mexico may generate more headlines, but for the USMNT, Costa Rica has become almost as challenging an adversary.
The USA’s record against the two is comparable over the past 20 years (9W-8L-1D vs. Costa Rica and 13W-9L-7D vs. Mexico), and it’s actually better against El Tri in competitive matches over the same span (6W-6L-2D vs. Costa Rica and 8W-7L-3D vs. Mexico), thanks in part to Costa Rica’s continued dominance on home soil.
The Americans fared better against Costa Rica as the latter’s core started to age, however, winning four of five since the 2018 World Cup (the USMNT is 6W-3L-2D vs. Mexico during that span). Overall, the USA holds a 19W-17L-6D advantage in the all-time series against Los Ticos, including a 19W-6L-4D edge in the U.S.
The most recent meeting came under strange competitive circumstances, as the USA only had to avoid losing by six goals on March 30, 2022 in the Costa Rican capital to jeopardize its place at the 2022 World Cup. The Americans were “successful”, falling 2-0 at the Estadio Nacional thanks to secondhalf strikes by Juan Pablo Vargas and Anthony Contreras.
The USA and Costa Rica haven’t gone this long without playing (more than 33 months), since the wait of nearly 44 months that preceded the June 3, 2009 World Cup qualifier in San José that Los Ticos won, 3-1.
Prior to that 2022 qualifier in Costa Rica, the USA had reeled off four straight wins, shutting out Los Ticos in friendlies in February 2019, February 2020 and June 2021 before outlasting them, 2-1, in an Oct. 13, 2021 qualifier in Columbus, Ohio.
The rivalry has been punctuated by many memorable moments, from the 2002 Gold Cup final won by the USA at the Rose Bowl and Jonathan Bornstein’s 95th-minute equalizer on an emotional night in Washington D.C. in October 2009, to the epic “Snowclasico” triumph during a March 2013 blizzard in Colorado.
Costa Rica’s highlights include a pivotal 2-0 World Cup qualifying win at Red Bull Arena in September 2017, the 2001 triumph at the Estadio Saprissa that clinched Los Ticos’ place at the 2002 World Cup, and a 4-0 qualifying rout in November 2016.
COSTA RICA’S RECENT FORM
Los Ticos have been a team in transition over the past couple years, and while 2024 marked an improvement over 2023, there were still a couple frustrating moments and two head coaching changes.
Los Ticos finished 2024 with a 7W-3L-5D record (compared to 3W-8L-1D in 2023), but it stumbled at the Copa América (albeit in a difficult group) and then lost a Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal series to Panama that cost coach Claudio Vivas his job.
Costa Rica began 2024 under Argentine coach Gustavo Alfaro, but he resigned in early August to assume the same role with Paraguay. Alfaro had managed Los Ticos to emphatic World Cup qualifying wins over Saint Kitts and Nevis and then Grenada. They then shut out Brazil in their Copa América opener as Keylor Navas’ successor, goalkeeper Patrick Sequeira, earned man of the match honors.
The Copa's group stage concluded with a 3-0 loss to Colombia and then a 2-1 win over Paraguay, in which Costa Rica scored twice in the first seven minutes. Los Ticos’ four points weren’t enough to see them through to the quarterfinals, however, and Vivas, another Argentine, took over shortly thereafter.
Costa Rica eased through its four-game Nations League slate but in November, it suffered a rare 1-0 home defeat to Panama in their quarterfinal opener. A 2-2 draw in the return leg in Panama City wasn’t enough. Vivas was sacked, and Costa Rica was relegated to a two-game Gold Cup qualifier against Belize in March 2025.
Josimar Alcócer, Francisco Calvo, Orlando Galo and Warren Madrigal tied for the lead in 2024 scoring with three goals each.
Costa Rica is currently ranked 54th by FIFA. The last time it was lower was January 2013.
THE HEAD COACH
Costa Rica’s replacement for Vivas made headlines around the region, as famously fiery Mexican manager Miguel Herrera was appointed on Jan. 7. He’ll make his debut on the Los Ticos bench in Orlando.
Herrera, 56, is the first Mexican head coach in Costa Rican national team history. It’s hired many foreign managers, including former USMNT coach Steve Sampson. The retired defender, who played 14 times for El Tri, arrives with a resume featuring 11 head coaching gigs in 22 years. He’s managed seven clubs in Mexico and had second stints at Atlante, Club América and Tijuana.
Herrera left América in 2013 to manage Mexico, with which he went 19W-7L-10D. At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, El Tri defeated Cameroon and Croatia, drew the hosts then went out to the Netherlands, 2-1, in the infamous “No Era Penal” round-of-16 match in Fortaleza.
El Tri traveled to the 2015 Copa América in Chile and went 0W-1L-2D, but rebounded to win the Gold Cup by defeating Jamaica in the final in Philadelphia. That was Herrera’s last game with Mexico, as he was fired after an altercation with a TV journalist two days later at the Philadelphia airport.
Herrera went 0W-1L-1D against the USMNT, tying a friendly in Glendale, Ariz., 2-2, in April 2014 and then losing a friendly, 2-0, in San Antonio, Texas a year later.
He won Liga MX titles with América in 2013 and 2018. Herrera’s most recent job was at Tijuana, where he went 10W-24L-13D before being dismissed in April 2024.
COSTA RICA’S SQUAD
Herrera’s first squad is typical for a friendly played outside a FIFA window and is comprised of 24 men who play in Costa Rica’s Liga FPD, which just began its 2025 Clausura campaign. Ten players are uncapped and only two, goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado and midfielder Allan Cruz, have more than 20 appearances. However, a few names will be familiar to fans in the USA.
The only player with more than one international goal, Cruz, spent 2019-22 at FC Cincinnati. He returned to Herediano in 2023 and just helped it win a 30th Liga FPD title with six goals in six playoff games, including all three in last month’s two-game final against Alajuelense.
Defender Joseph Mora played for D.C. United (2018-21) and Charlotte FC (2022-23). Midfielder Alejandro Bran spent part of 2024 with Minnesota United and forward Diego Campos played with Indy Eleven and the Chicago Fire in 2018-2020.
Campos was the leading scorer among Costa Ricans (and tied for third overall) in the recently completed Apertura season, netting eight times for Alajuelense.
DETAILED COSTA RICA ROSTER BY POSITION (Club; Caps/Goals)
GOALKEEPERS (2): Esteban Alvarado (Saprissa; 25/0), Anthony Walker (Herediano; 0/0)
DEFENDERS (9): Ryan Bolaños (Saprissa; 0/0), Kevin Espinoza (Cartaginés; 0/0), Fernán Faerrón (Herediano; 3/0), Joseph Mora (Saprissa; 12/0), Kenay Myrie (Saprissa; 0/0), Joseth Peraza (San Carlos; 0/0), Haxzel Quirós (Herediano; 12/0), Yostin Salinas (Sporting San José; 4/0), Santiago van der Putten (Alajuelense; 0/0)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Sebastián Acuña (Saprissa; 5/0), Alejandro Bran (Alajuelense; 13/1), Allan Cruz (Herediano; 24/2), Rashir Parkins (Alajuelense; 1/0), Creichel Pérez (Alajuelense; 0/0), Aarón Suárez (Alajuelense; 7/1), Mauricio Villalobos (Santa Ana; 0/0)
FORWARDS (6): Diego Campos (Alajuelense; 2/1), Anthony Hernández (Puntarenas; 3/1), Josimar Méndez (San Carlos; 0/0), Andy Rojas (Herediano; 4/1), Orlando Sinclair (Saprissa; 1/0), Randy Vega (Herediano; 0/0)