San Jose was the site of the visit of the United States of America to Costa Rica. Whoever won tonight would go top of the CONCACAF table. The United States lost midfielder Michael Bradley to an ankle injury during warmups. Costa Rica were dominant on the left side of their attack all night long as they tore through American right back Michael Orozco. The Ticos made their intentions clear from the opening minute, as Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz (pictured, red) linked up to get a nice shot on goal. The resulting corner kick from Campbell was headed in at the near post by Johnny Acosta for a 1-0 lead to Costa Rica. Just seven minutes later, the Americans hemorrhaged a second goal. Cristian Bolaños burst down the right side of the American defense, dragging a centerback wide to meet him. With space into which to cross, Bolaños did, finding Celso Borges for a scoring header. Orozco made a sliding block to prevent Bolaños from getting a clear shot at a third goal for the Ticos. Geoff Cameron won a ball in the Costa Rican area and made a zipping pass across to Fabian Johnson, whose wicked shot was somehow misdirected off frame by Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas. A quick restart from Graham Zusi chipped ball put Johnson in on goal, but he was chopped down by Navas in the box before getting a shot off. The Yanks converted the penalty kick and were down only 2-1 at the break.
Landon Donovan began finding space for the American attack. His ball from the left flank was cut in to Clint Dempsey. Dempsey's effort from just beyond the half circle evaded Navas but not the post. The Americans looked sure to equalize, but it was a perfect counterattack that did them in tonight. A booming clearance found Campbell in space with Matt Besler (pictured, blue) on his right shoulder. Besler was stride for stride with Campbell, but his goalkeeper Tim Howard did not come out to provide assistance, so Campbell was able to create a simple finish for a 3-1 lead. The Americans could not come back from such a deep hole. Costa Rica win 3-1 and jump into the lead in the chase for Brasil 2014.
Costa Rica 14 pts +6
USA 13 pts +2
Honduras 10 pts 0
Mexico 8 pts 0
Panama 7 pts -2
Jamaica 3 pts -6
Goals
Costa Rica
Johnny Acosta 3
Celso Borges 10
Joel Campbell 76
United States of America
Clint Dempsey 43 PK
Match Reports:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/usnationalteam/id/561?cc=5901
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20130907/u-s-costa-rica-three-thoughts/?sct=hp_t11_a0&eref=sihp
Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VSZxj7tayE
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