Rio Tinto to host June World Cup qualifier against Honduras

Rio Tinto stadium will host the U.S. Men's National Team's World Cup qualifier against Honduras on June 18, it was announced today.

U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann appeared live on ESPN's SportCenter to make the announcement.

"Every point in a World Cup qualifier is crucial, and we need to have game in venues like Salt Lake where we know opponents not only have to deal with us, they will also have to deal with the crowd,” Klinsmann said. “When we ask the question ‘where is the biggest support for us throughout the country?,’ Salt Lake always comes up in that discussion."

The U.S. team, which features Real Salt Lake players Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman and Tony Beltran, will face Costa Rica this Friday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce, Colo. RSL striker Alvaro Saborio, who is on the Costa Rican squad, is questionable with a bruised knee.

The U.S. will also face Panama at CenturyLink field in Seattle on June 11 before heading to Utah.

Season Ticket Holders will have an exclusive pre-sale on Tuesday, March 26, from 10 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. MT through www.RioTintoStadium.com and Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, April 2, at 10 a.m. MT through www.ussoccer.com.

“Choosing Salt Lake for a very important game in the qualifying process is an easy choice,” said Klinsmann. "It has been proven in the past that this is another venue where we can ‘rock the boat’ and get a lot of excitement in the city around the game.”

Ryan Carreon is a web editor for DeseretNews.com. E-mail him at rcarreon@desnews.com