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This evening in Salt Lake City, they are trying to put that behind them as they are having their second practice session for the day. The first was held this morning and 7news was there where we found a team trying to adapt to the altitude and the dry weather. Jules Vasquez reports.

Jules Vasquez reporting from Salt Lake City, Utah
The National team got its first chance to see Utah in the daytime when they got on the bus today to go to a team practice. On the horizon, the towering Wasatch mountain range which encircles Salt Lake City is a good indicator of the elevation they will have to play at. Utah is over four thousand feet above sea level, making the air crisp and dry.

Their workout facility on this day was Highland, a high school on the suburban outskirts of Salta Lake City - natural grass to match the Rio Tinto stadium 15 miles south in Sandy Utah, where they will face Costa Rica on Saturday.

After some treatment form the physical therapist, the team had a solid two hour workout, from warm-up runs, to stretches led by the veterans, to a good hard scrimmage, where, halfway through, Coach Mork had to pull them aside and tell them to speed things up, because they looked sluggish.

After that things picked up - but the team was winded when it was done:

Jules Vasquez
"How are the players acclimatizing to the altitude and the dry crisp air?"

Ian Mork - Head Coach
"I mean so far it's a little bit early to give an assessment right now but so far we know we can play much better?"

Coach Mork was also the slightest bit defensive about the criticism that team Belize has abandoned its strength which was defence:

Ian Mork
"Yes the Belizean team is being very defensive in the past and I've heard a lot of talk that we switched the system and I would have to disagree - we made some adjustments to the system that was successful in the UNCAF Nation's Cup and we tried to make everyone understand their roles. I think we were fairly organized against the US but I think individually we weren't closing them down quick enough and we gave them too much respect. Then we'd been talking about we wanted to start having more possession to have more chances but as you saw in the match we didn't have enough confidence in the ball to do that. So we could have never got any rhythm with the ball and that's a major factor in a game like this."

Today the team drew international press attention after news of the match fixing approach broke out, but today Woodrow West and Ian Gaynair were very guarded in their remarks

Ian Gaynair - Defence
"He wanted us to assure him that we'd lose the match - CONCACAF has everything."

Gaynair though, did get to tell the story of his dream goal to slightly stunned US reporters.

Ian Gaynair
"That goal was dedicated to my sister - actually I dreamed of it so the Father just answered my prayers."

US Reporter
"When did you dream of it?"

Ian Gaynair
"The night before - I hardly slept and the little time that I had to sleep that is when she came to me."

US Reporter
"Your sister?"

Ian Gaynair
"My sister that passed away two years ago to cancer. She was my biggest fan?"

US Reporter
"Was it that you saw or you dreamt?"

Ian Gaynair
"I heard because I know that I didn't have many opportunities going forward because I play defense so the only time we have set pieces I would be up more so I figured it would be a score from a head."

And now, they must dream of a win against Costa Rica, and with injury and loss plaguing the team's fortunes, it will have to stick even closer together.

Tomorrow, the team will have its first practice at the Rio Tinto Stadium where they will play Costa Rica on Saturday. Of course, we'll have the full report on that in tomorrow's news.