U.S. World Cup foe Costa Rica could turn tough

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The road to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa has just turned a little bit more tricky for the United States.

Not because it plays away to Honduras in its next-to-last qualifying game.

Not because the goals have not been flowing as freely as desired.

Not because its final qualifying match is against Costa Rica in Washington.

But because Costa Rica on Tuesday fired Rodrigo Kenton as coach. The dismissal was almost inevitable. Under Kenton, who once had the team in first place, Costa Rica had lost its last three games in a row, all by shutouts. He had to go.

The reason his departure could be a problem for the U.S. is because of who his successor might be. Four names are being talked about, each of them a far more experienced coach than Kenton. They are, in no particular order, Leo Beenhakker, Jose Pekerman, Enrique Meza and Hans Westerhof.

Beenhakker, recently fired after failing to qualify Poland for the World Cup, has credentials that include coaching the Dutch national team, not to mention Ajax Amsterdam and Real Madrid. He qualified Trinidad and Tobago for the 2006 World Cup and the Soca Warriors are Costa Rica’s next opponent.

Pekerman coached Argentina to the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup. Previously, he had won three Under-20 World Cups with Argentina as well as a gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

Meza, a former Mexico national team coach, has won four Mexican league titles, including three with Toluca and one with Pachuca, as well as two CONCACAF Champions Cups and one Copa Sudamericana.

Westerhof has coached the Dutch Under-21 national team and such clubs as PSV Eindhoven, Ajax Amsterdam and Chivas de Guadalajara. He was coach of Chivas USA for a while before being replaced by Bob Bradley, now the U.S. coach.

In other words, each of the four men is perfectly capable of getting Costa Rica past Trinidad and Tobago and, assuming a U.S. loss at Honduras, putting enormous stress on the Americans in Washington in a game that could decide who goes directly to South Africa and who goes into a playoff with a potentially tough South American opponent.

Costa Rica, under Kenton, defeated the U.S., 3-1, in San Jose, Costa Rica on June 3.

In short, the U.S. road to the World Cup is taking an uphill turn.

-- Grahame L. Jones