"Tropical flora, exotic fauna and fake grass will greet the United States when it plays Costa Rica on Wednesday [ESPN, Galavision, 10 p.m. ET] in a World Cup qualifying match at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá in San José," writes Jack Bell of the New York Times.
FIFA only recently approved the use of artificial turf fields for international matches. Deportiva Saprissa gained a waiver from soccer's governing body in 2003 to install the turf because of consistently poor field conditions due to the tropical climate. Although many U.S. players are familiar with turf fields from playing in the MLS, they generally dislike them as compared to natural grass.
Playing surface aside, the United States (2-0-1), which leads the six-nation qualifying group with 7 points, has an 0-6-1 (win-loss-tie) record in qualifying matches in Costa Rica and has been outscored, 13-4. "The fact that a number of our guys have been to Saprissa Stadium, who have played matches there, that will certainly be part of what we will discuss when we get the whole group together," Bradley said. "Costa Rica has had great success at Saprissa Stadium. They are very comfortable there. They have great confidence there.
"And certainly, we are aware that we have never won there. So when we look at different challenges, talk about things that we still want to achieve, this is a good example."