For a second straight World Cup qualifying window, the U.S. men's national team faces a Central American opponent on the heels of a disappointing result, knowing that the tone going forward will be determined by what happens over the course of 90 minutes.
The U.S. hosts Costa Rica at the Columbus Crew's Lower.com Field on Wednesday fresh off a 1–0 defeat to Panama Sunday night. It was in the last window that the Americans followed a 1–1 home draw vs. Canada with a 4–1 triumph in Honduras, and they'll be seeking a similar response against Los Ticos.
Despite the poor showing in Panama City, the U.S. enters the night in second place in the Concacaf Octagonal table, but second through sixth are separated by just three points, so much can change quickly on the final night of this window. Costa Rica swept the U.S. in the 2018 qualifying cycle, so Gregg Berhalter's side will be out to halt the trend while picking up three valuable points on the road to Qatar.
Berhalter reverted to as close to a first-choice lineup as he could given who is in camp, although he did make a significant change in goal by starting Zack Steffen over Matt Turner, who had performed well in the previous five games.
"Zack's a big part of this program. We think it's the right time to get him involved," Berhalter told ESPN prior to the match.
Elsewhere, Weston McKennie recovered from the minor muscle injury that kept him out vs. Panama to join Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah in the midfield, while Chris Richards stepped into central defense to pair with Miles Robinson. Up top, Paul Arriola was set to start for a third straight match on the wing, but a right groin injury in the pre-match warmup ruled him out and brought Tim Weah into the lineup.
All of the good vibes and energy the U.S. may have been bringing into the match disappeared quickly, though the questions regarding the goalkeeper change become more pronounced. Costa Rica scored a minute into the match through Keysher Fuller, who bounced home his shot after a cross from Ronald Matarrita. The U.S. tried to argue that forward Jonathan Moya was in an offside position and interfered with Steffen's sight line, but it was to no avail. Sergiño Dest, who was racing after Matarrita down the left flank, kept Moya onside the whole time.
The sequence followed a moment when Steffen had to race off his line to head away a ball that took an in-between hop and wasn't dealt with properly by Miles Robinson, making for a calamity of an opening minute for the hosts.
The U.S. did well to regain a foothold in the game after that point, and in the 13th minute Weah created the most dangerous moment for the U.S. when he surged down the right and tried to pick out Dest with a cross, only for Costa Rican defending to end the threat.
Ten minutes later, Antonee Robinson fired in a dangerous cross for Ricardo Pepi, who was unable to properly direct his header at the near post.
The goal the U.S. was seeking came a couple of minutes later. After the U.S. built beautifully out of the box, it looked like the sequence would wind up being fruitless, but Musah recycled the ball on the right side and picked out Dest, who took a couple of touches to set himself up and then unleashed an 18-yard, left-footed rocket into the upper left-hand corner of the goal to make it 1-1. The goal snapped an eight-game streak of the U.S. failing to score in the first half, and it did so in style.
Costa Rica had a penalty shout go unheard in the 37th minute. After a sliding block by Musah inadvertently played Moya in on the U.S. goal, Richards came in with a sliding challenge of his own and appeared to clear out the forward without getting the ball, but the referee let play continue without blowing for the penalty, and Steffen pounced to collect possession. Regardless, there's no VAR available in Concacaf World Cup qualifying, so whatever the initial call on the field was was going to stick.
Stay tuned here for live updates and highlights of goals and key plays from throughout the match (refresh for most recent updates here).
Here are the lineups for both teams:
