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Story courtesy US Soccer Communications
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (October 8, 2005) — Costa Rica joined the U.S. and
Mexico from CONCACAF in booking their ticket to the 2006 FIFA World Cup
on Saturday night with a 3-0 victory over the U.S. Men’s National Team
in front of a sold out crowd at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa.
Paulo Wanchope scored the game winner in the 34th minute, and Carlos
Hernandez came on as a second half sub to score twice as the U.S. was
handed their first three goal defeat in World Cup qualifying since a
5-1 loss to Mexico in November of 1980. The last three goal defeat for
the U.S. in any competition was a 4-1 loss to Denmark on January 22,
1997 in the Gold Cup.
Wanchope’s goal ended a shutout streak for the U.S. in qualifying that
dated back to March 27 vs. Mexico spanning 631 minutes.
“First of all, congratulations to Costa Rica. They deserved to qualify
for the World Cup,” said U.S. manager Bruce Arena who suffered his
first three-goal defeat in 115 games at the helm. “I thought for large
segments of the game, play was even. In the first half, we had the
better of the chances.
“Some mistakes were made that more experienced players would not have
made but, overall, I accomplished the objective of watching certain
combinations of players play together.”
Costa Rica sent their home crowd into a frenzy in the 34th minute as a
great through ball found Alvaro Saborio streaking into the right side
of the area and bringing his marker with him. Saborio lunged and
touched off a shot that Tim Howard dove to his right to make a touch
save, but Wanchope slid to beat Howard to the rebound with his foot to
score his Costa Rican record 43rd international goal in his 66th
appearance.
The U.S. appeared to level the score at 1-1 in the 39th minute after
Bobby Convey drew a foul at the top left corner of the area. Eddie
Lewis took the free kick and found Pope and the back post who headed
the ball across the six yard box. There, the ball hit the chest of
Walter Centeno and fell right to the foot of Taylor Twellman who tapped
the ball into the back of the net at the left post but was flagged for
being offside.
Hernandez came on as a sub in the 59th minute and immediately put his
stamp on the match with a 20-yard strike. Ronald Gomez fed the ball to
Hernandez five yards outside of the penalty area, and he turned past
DaMarcus Beasley who tried to intercept but got there late. With no one
between him and goal, Hernandez took a pair of touches before drilling
the ball off the inside of the left post and into the goal.
In the 79th minute, Twellman almost struck for his first U.S. goal.
Bobby Convey played across and in-swinging corner kick that found the
striker unmarked at the top of the six yard box. Twellman headed the
ball down on goal, but Jervis Drummond was in the right place to clear
the ball off the goal line.
Hernandez closed out the scoring in the 88th minute with a rocketed
volley that went over the underside of the crossbar in the upper left
corner of the net. Gilberto Martinez took a free kick and sent it long
into the area where Oguchi Onyewu headed it out. Hernandez stepped up
and volleyed the ball first time for his second goal of the night.
Carlos Bocanegra and Eddie Lewis picked up yellow cards in the second
half and will serve suspensions for their second yellow card in World
Cup qualifying on Wednesday when the U.S. takes on Panama in Foxboro,
Mass. live on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET. Onyewu was also booked for the U.S.
Tim Howard returned for the U.S. after a 13 month hiatus and started
for the U.S. in his second World Cup qualifying appearance. Pope as
moved up into a tie with Claudio Renya for all-time World Cup
qualifying appearances for the U.S. with 31. Kasey Keller is the
all-time leader with 32.
The match was the 50th played by the U.S. since the 2002 FIFA World
Cup, and the team has a 31-8-11 record, including recording a shutout
in 28 of those matches. With the loss, the U.S. continues their winless
streak in Costa Rica in qualifying, now at seven games with an 0-6-1
record. Overall, the U.S. is 11-10-4 against the Ticos.
In the rest of CONCACAF, Mexico reclaimed the top spot in the region
with a 5-2 win against Guatemala. The Chapines drop a spot to fifth in
the standings, after Trinidad and Tobago defeated Panama by a 1-0
scoreline. While CONCACAF'S three automatic berths have been decided,
the fourth place team, who will have a play off against the fifth place
team from Asia, could come down to the final match. Guatemala currently
sits with eight points, two behind Trinidad and Tobago, but could still
overcome the Trinidadians with a win against Costa Rica on Wednesday if
Trinidad loses to Mexico.
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