The Costa Rica and Honduras male national soccer teams will measure up tomorrow in the first date of the Gold Cup 2017.

Costa Rica and Honduras have a known regional rivalry which was exacerbated by the fact that the current head coach of Honduras, Jorge Luis Pinto, was Costa Rica’s head coach during the Brazil World Cup.

The game between Costa Rica and Honduras takes place at 7:30 p.m. Costa Rica time (9:30 p.m. in New Jersey) at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.

The Honduras team has had problems during qualification matches for the Russia World Cup 2018 and currently sits in the second to last position in the group, it is also coming into this regional tournament missing key offensive players, Albert Elis who is currently injured, Rony Martínez who is playing in China, and Anthony Lozano who is currently in negotiations with Barcelona. Other players have refused to join the team because of the demands of its head coach.

Costa Rica’s “La Sele”, on the other hand will be playing with many of its star players but leaving out goal keeper Keylor Navas and midfielder Celso Borges, who are currently taking a break after long seasons, and defender Ronald Matarrita who is injured. Head coach Oscar Ramírez has stated several times that the team is going for the Gold Cup.

The other two teams in Group A French Guinea and Canada will also be playing Friday in the inaugurating day of the Gold Cup.

Costa Rica is coming into this Gold Cup as one of the favorites along with Mexico and the United States. Even though Costa Rica has not shown its best game during the most recent matches in the Russia elimination matches, it managed to retain the second place in the qualifying group. It is also taking most of the main lineup to this Gold Up, contrary to the USMNT and Mexico who are only taking 22% and 13% of their main players respectively, the rest were allowed time to rest.

Starting out with a win is a must for Costa Rica specially since they are facing a diminished Honduras. The last time these two teams met they tied 1-1.