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United States manager Gregg Berhalter is hoping to use Saturday's friendly against Costa Rica as a learning experience for his young squad. The U.S. dispatched an even less-experienced Panama team 3-0 last Sunday. This time around they'll be facing a Costa Rican side still getting used to new manager Gustavo Matosas. A pair of November friendlies were overseen by interim manager Ronald Gonzalez. "We're going to learn," said Berhalter at his prematch press conference at Avaya Stadium. "We're going to learn about them. I think it's a good position for us to learn about the coach. "We have very little body of work on this coach in particular, when you look at his games in Argentina, Mexico, trying to get an understanding for how he likes to set his teams up. How he's specifically going to do with Costa Rica, we don't know yet. "That will give us a good indication. In terms of us and our evaluation process, we're looking to meet certain checkpoints to show that we're making progress. We know it's not going to be a finished product tomorrow, but we are hoping to make progress." Berhalter is also expecting a much tougher test from Costa Rica. While the Ticos will field a relatively experienced squad, it does feature three players with at least 40 caps in defender Francisco Calvo, midfielder David Guzman and midfielder Jose Miguel Cubero. It also features some rising talents in Costa Rican soccer like new FC Cincinnati signing Alan Cruz. "We think it's going to be a very good group [from Costa Rica]," said Berhalter. "We think it's going to be a difficult game. If the indications are true, it will be a higher-pressing team, which will be great for us because it will give us a chance to play under that type of pressure. I'm excited about the game." Saturday's match will conclude a nearly month-long camp that began in Chula Vista, California, moved on to Phoenix and now concludes in San Jose. Along the way Berhalter said he's been impressed with what his squad, comprised entirely of MLS players, has been able to accomplish. "What I've been impressed with is the amount of work that they can do," said Berhalter. "I'm impressed with the amount of information they can take in. I've been impressed with their openness to learn. Their willingness to give feedback. Overall, it's been impressive with what they've been able to do." Part of what Berhalter has been attempting to accomplish has been implementing a style of play. That has raised questions of what will happen when the full team meets up for a pair of friendlies in late March. But Berhalter says his tactical blueprint was drawn up with the entire player pool in mind. "When we're deciding about the specifics of our formation and the roles and responsibilities for each position, we had in mind the March group," he said. "That's how we imagined this formation. We took some of the high-profile players into account. "Having said that, it was also important so that we could fit this group into it. When we called the players into camp, we were very specific about what roles we thought they could play in this system. That's why some players were selected over other players."
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