Soccer is a wacky game, man. It looks like a sprawling, timeless sport but really it is a game of specific moments. You look at the scoreline and figure that USA dominated the game. They were the better team, easily. But I'm still convinced USA only played marginally better than in their 2-0 defeat to Colombia a few days earlier. The significant event in this game was identical to the Colombia game: an early PK that devastated the losing team. Against Colombia USA was on the losing end of that incident, against Costa Rica USA received the benefit. And it made all the difference. Does this mean Coach Klinsmann has solved the mystery of USA soccer? Or did USA just get a lucky call in the box?
I expected Costa Rica to come out in a defensive shell, to bunker down, work the counter attack and bog down the USA attack. Not at all! The first few minutes Costa Rica attacked without hesitation, pushed the tempo to an insane rate and tried to make USA fall apart. It almost worked. But instead...it didn't. They gave up the early penalty (easy call, it was a foul), found themselves down in a must-win game and struggled to get any offense going. Instead, Costa Rica left a gaping hole in the middle of their defense and USA was able to put the punishment on them.
Jermaine Jones added a sweet goal, Bobby Wood added another right before halftime and sub Graham Zusi tacked on a late goal just to rub it in. USA should've scored a few more, Zardes and Bedoya each had golden opportunities that failed to materialize. Costa Rica is looking down and out going forward, only a big time upset over Colombia even gives them a chance of moving on to the knockout round.
USA needs a draw against Paraguay to advance, a win would be great but a loss would absolutely wreck them. The hope is back in USA soccer...for now.
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