USMNT ready for Rio Tinto Stadium and World Cup qualifier

USMNT ready for Rio Tinto Stadium and World Cup qualifier


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SANDY — Coming off a huge 2-0 win over Panama in Seattle just one week ago, the U.S. Soccer Men’s National Team is ready to open up the second half of the Hexagonal and play its World Cup qualifier against Honduras at Rio Tinto Stadium Tuesday night.

“I think we’re really looking forward to the match,” U.S. Soccer head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said at a press conference Monday. “It’s a big one, and I mentioned a couple of days ago it’s a six pointer, it’s huge.”

Not only is the USMNT sitting atop the Hex currently with 10 points from its first five matches of the Hex, the team enters the match Tuesday night on a 24-match unbeaten streak on its home turf, which dates back 12 years to 2001.

USMNT ready for Rio Tinto Stadium and World Cup qualifier

“So far things are good,” U.S. Soccer forward Clint Dempsey said during the press conference. “We’re where we want to be on the table, but we still have to (keep) consistency in these next games and make sure that we put ourselves in a position to qualify and we’re not waiting for the last two games hoping that other teams will do us a favor,” said Dempsey.

Oddly enough, the last loss the USMNT took on American soil was Sept. 1, 2001, to the team it hosts Tuesday. Regardless, the USMNT say it is ready for what Honduras will bring to the pitch.

“We expect them to be very physical,” said Klinsmann. “There will be a lot of battles on the field all over the place, but we want to play our rhythm, we want to play our game, we want to be dominate hopefully on the field and take care of things the sooner the better. It’s going to be a tough, tough opponent.”

Tuesday’s match is the third in a string of qualifiers the USMNT has played recently and will be the last for three months. But even with the lengthy break following Tuesday’s match, the USMNT is solely focused on getting itself to Brazil.

Jürgen Klinsmann. Does it matter if He's Just Not That Into attacking 
soccer? Photograph: Michel Euler/AP
Jürgen Klinsmann. Does it matter if He's Just Not That Into attacking soccer? Photograph: Michel Euler/AP

“You won’t have a good vacation if you don’t get the points (Tuesday) night, and that’s what we want to make sure that we do to put ourselves in the driver's seat and make sure that we qualify for World Cup,” said Dempsey.

With the lengthy break following the match, the USMNT is not only counting on getting the result it is looking for Tuesday night, but that it will help with the rest of its qualifiers.

“The next World Cup qualifier will be in September, so you set the tone with (Tuesday’s) match and therefore we are highly motivated,” said Klinsmann. “I think the energy is good, the atmosphere is good and we’re looking forward to it.” Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.

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