MIAMI, USA – October’s FIFA World Cup qualification matches in the CONCACAF region will wrap up with a thrilling slate of four contests today, with the pressure ramping up on teams as they near the halfway point of the final round.

The night begins with the United States hosting Costa Rica in Columbus, Ohio.

Whether the snowy 1-0 U.S. win in Colorado ahead of the 2014 World Cup, Marcos Urena’s double to give Costa Rica a 2-0 away win in New Jersey before the 2018 tournament or Hernan Medford, Mauricio Solis and Ronaldo Gomez combining to overcome goals from Eric Wynalda and Roy Lassiter in 1997 will have a bearing on the result, the series between these two teams is always competitive, and even more so in World Cup qualification.

The U.S. hold the all-time series lead with 18 wins, 16 losses and six draws, but Costa Rica have the edge with 11 wins, six defeats and three draws in WCQ.

Costa Rica will be missing Joel Campbell and Jose Guillermo Ortiz, both of whom started in attack against El Salvador in a 2-1 Costa Rica win, prompting manager Luis Fernando Suarez to bring in veterans Christian Bolanos and Alvaro Saborio as replacements. U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter will be able to lean on Weston McKennie and left back Antonee Robinson after they missed the North Americans’ 1-0 loss to Panama on Sunday.

Canada vs Panama
Canada have theit only home match of the month today, with an increased capacity at Toronto’s BMO Field likely to lead to a tremendous atmosphere for a contest against Panama. Canada are coming off consecutive away draws, drawing level with Mexico, 1-1, and Jamaica, 0-0, earlier this month, while Panama are riding high after their victory over the U.S.

The teams have relatively little history against each other, having met just 10 times total and six times in qualification. The last encounter was a 2014 international friendly that came on the heels of Panama’s only win over Canada in World Cup qualification, a 2-0 victory with goals from Rolando Blackburn and Blas Perez.

Blackburn will hope to repeat the feat, while his teammates at the back must deny a new-look Canada attack featuring Jonathan David, Alphonso Davies and Jonathan Osorio, the author of Canada’s goal in the Estadio Azteca earlier this month to secure a point against Mexico.

Honduras vs Jamaica
Jamaica will head to Honduras for a contest at the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, in San Pedro Sula with every nation still looking for their first win of the final round.

Reggae Boyz manager Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore enjoyed success in this fixture as a player, scoring on the road to France 1998 in a 3-0 Jamaica win over Honduras (Walter Boyd’s double serving as the other goals), and in the 2002 cycle when Jamaica logged the second of three all-time wins over Los Catrachos.

Honduras will be without defender Maynor Figueroa, who is serving a suspension after seeing a red card in a 3-0 loss to Mexico on Sunday.

El Salvador vs Mexico
Mexico put their undefeated record thus far to the test with a trip to the Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador to face El Salvador. La Selecta took an early 1-0 lead against Costa Rica on Sunday, but fell 2-1, with Narciso Orellana sent off in the 85th minute and suspended for this contest.

If history is our guide, we’ll see a winner today, as these two teams have never settled for a stalemate. Mexico have won nine WCQ matches against El Salvador and lost three, the most recent defeat coming in 2009 when El Salvador won 2-1 at the Cuscatlan.