Needing only a draw to assure a straightforward quarterfinal against a third-place group-stage finisher, Michael Nsien’s men did one better on Friday night, defeating Costa Rica by a single goal to take Group A with a perfect nine points.
USA 1 – 0 Costa Rica
The final set of Group A games were played one day later than originally planned, and moved to the city of León, due to a shooting that occurred outside the hotel of one of the teams in the original location of Celaya.
Despite the change in setting, the situation was still the same for both teams, each of whom was aiming to finish atop the group, and avoid what would like be a tricky quarterfinal matchup against hosts Mexico.
In the end, the narrow scoreline flattered the under-pressure Costa Ricans, who were thoroughly dominated by their American counterparts, and never really had any chance whatsoever even before being reduced to ten men early in the second half.
Nsien returned to a starting XI more similar to what he deployed in the opener against Jamaica, however with some minor tweaks. Most notably, Marcos Zambrano and David Vazquez were deployed as a front-two atop a rather standard 4-4-2 formation, with Ruben Ramos shifted back to the left side of the midfield.
Pedro Soma and Brooklyn Raines formed the central pairing, with Nikolas Tsakiris on the right side. Adam Beaudry returned to the nets, with a back line of Nolan Norris, Stuart Hawkins, Noah Cobb and Aidan Harangi set up to stifle the Ticos’ attack.
Highlights of the game can be seen here.
Harangi signaled the Americans’ intentions in the opening moments, hitting a long-distance shot that beat the keeper, but bounced off the crossbar in the third minute.
Desperate to gain any advantage, even through usage of the “dark arts”, the Costa Rican players wasted little time in trying to pad their acting resumes. This was most flagrantly on display in the 26th minute when defender Walter Ramírez threw himself onto the ground and rolled around feigning a smashed oesophagus, after Vazquez lightly pushed off against the player.
Sadly, the Honduran referee Jefferson Escobar was not completely immune to the acting; while opting against the public execution Ramírez seemed to be aiming for with his theatrics, he still opted to show the American yellow card.
Nevertheless, the US team had the main reason to celebrate with eight minutes left in the half, after Tsakiris scored the only goal of the game. Receiving a short lay-off just outside the area from Zambrano, the San Jose Earthquakes midfielder powered through four Costa Rican defenders, before hitting a rocket of a shot from six yards, which easily beat the keeper and rattled the underside of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Moments before the break, Vazquez tried to double the lead with a low shot to the left side from outside the area as he cut inwards from the right, but his attempt was easily scooped up by the Costa Rican keeper.
That was the Philadelphia Union prospect’s last act of the game, as he was smartly given a rest after the half by Nsien in favor of Zavier Gozo, in order to avoid any risk of earning a second yellow that would keep him out of the quarterfinal.
Within one minute of the restart, the game was essentially put to rest when the Costa Rican captain Alberth Barahona lunged out with his right leg while trying to chase down Tsakiris near the midfield, dragging his cleats down the back of the American player’s calf before pulling him to the ground from behind.
The referee initially whistled a foul without brandishing a card, however was eventually called to the sideline for a VAR review, which made the severity of the contact clear, and led to Escobar showing the straight red to the player.
After initially resisting to leave the field, Barahona then feigned injury before reaching the sideline, leading the medial crews to pull out the stretcher. The defender eventually did leave under his own power. However, moments later, Oscar nominee Ramírez was at it again, going to ground and grabbing his face after Gozo innocently pushed off against his shoulder. This time, the referee was having none of it, and simply continued play without even calling a foul.
In the end, the Costa Rican players were never able to gain a foothold, and despite Nsien’s men failing to add any further scores to their lead, the Americans still cruised to a convincing win.
Once again, the young Yanks used constant pressure to their advantage, keeping their opponents off-balance even before the red card. The Ticos managed only one shot in the entire game and held just over 40% of possession, giving keeper Beaudry barely any test between the nets.
Overall in the group stage, the US outscored their opponents by a commanding 14-0 margin. They will now face Guatemala, who finished third place in Group C in Tuesday’s quarterfinal. Should they advance, they are assured a spot in the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and will face either Canada or Panama in the semifinal.
With both Vazquez and Soma picking up yellow cards in the game, the pair joins Luca Bombino and Stuart Hawkins as the players who will need to watch out for avoiding a potential suspension after the quarterfinal. However, all players will be available to Nsien for the game.
