Already rendered anticlimactic by last Saturday's clinching victory in Honduras, Wednesday night's World Cup qualifier between the United States against Costa Rica in Washington now will be played in the shadow of the car accident that claimed the life of a Maryland woman and likely cost forward Charlie Davies the opportunity to play in next summer's tournament.The game means everything, however, to both the visitors and Honduras, which trails Costa Rica by two points for the region's final automatic berth. For that reason, and because of the "great deal of pride in the ongoing competition to be the best team in CONCACAF," according to U.S. coach Bob Bradley, the Americans claimed they will play to win on Wednesday night (8 PM ET, ESPN2).
The 2006 World Cup is remembered as a tournament where key players fell well short of expectations. It should also be remembered for the play of Clint Dempsey and Jimmy Conrad, the two MLS players who arguably were the only members of that 
Monday may be the day. The pieces appear to be in place. The U.S. national team has been closing in on Italy for some time now - a relatively respectable 0-2-3 against the four-time world champions since that 7-1 mauling back at the 1934 World Cup. The young Americans were out of their depth at the 1990 tournament, save the narrow 1-0 loss to the hosts. In Kaiserslautern three summers ago, a memorable (and occasionally violent) 1-1 struggle resulted in the Azzurri's only blemish and the U.S.'s only point.
