The United States' friendly match against Costa Rica on Friday night was a tale of two extremely different halves. In the first half, the USMNT was the demonstrably better side and though they struggled to create clear-cut goal scoring opportunities, controlled the match. In the second half, they performed very poorly and let Costa Rica back into the game, as Rodney Wallace scored on his debut to give the Ticos a 1-0 win. There were some positives for the USA to take out of the match, but based on their extremely disappointing second half, it's probably easier to pick out negatives.
The goal was created by Alvaro Saborio, who did well to beat the offside trap and get behind Michael Orozco Fiscal and Carlos Bocanegra. Once he got onto the ball, he put a cross into the box for Michael Barrientes, who forced Tim Howard into a fantastic save. However, there was nothing Howard could do about the rebound and the second chance, and Wallace scored easily to give Costa Rica a 65th minute winner.
Jose Fransisco Torres was almost certainly the man of the match for the USMNT, while Brek Shea, Maurice Edu, and Timothy Chandler all put in good performances. Landon Donovan had a bit of an odd match, as he played well in the first half and looked poor in the second. Robbie Rodgers and Edgar Castillo were almost certainly the players who had the toughest time for the USA, proving that they're probably not worthy of starting for the national team at this point in their careers.
The United States will now travel to Europe to take on Belgium, where Jurgen Klinsmann will probably utilize a slightly different starting XI.
There are 0 Comments. Add Yours.
Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.
C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read
R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next
Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read
Comment Settings
Live comment alert: Hide it!
Comments for this post are closed.