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Barring the upset of the tournament, the USA should have booked its place in the final of the 2017 CONCACAF Men's U-17 Championship before Mexico and Costa Rica get this game started. What El Tri and Los Ticos will decide is which team joins the young Americans in the Championship game.
Mexico has already been beaten once in this tournament, by the USA team it is expected to meet in the final. It is surprising whenever there is another CONCACAF team better than Mexico at this level; it would be a shock to discover there are two this year. So El Tri is the favorite to win because its Men's U-17 teams tend to be better than the rest in CONCACAF.
That said, a tie would send Costa Rica through to the final, and the team does have at least one game-changing talent: Jose Alfaro has fulfilled pre-tournament expectations that he would be one of the better players for his team and in the competition.
And there is evidence to suggest this might be a close game: Mexico only beat Panama, 1-0, and Costa Rica looks like a better team than Panama at this tournament.
Both sides know they are already qualified for the U-17 World Cup, but only one can make the final of this Championship - and they would both surely like to add that prize to their list of accomplishments this year. Should be a good game.