Team USA Comes Back From Behind to Beat Costa Rica, 2-1

The United States men’s national team defeated Costa Rica tonight with 2-1, following a magnificent comeback.

Gregg Berhalter’s side was down after just 60 seconds but flipped the result following a thorough and stubborn approach in the remaining part of the game.

However, when Keysher Fuller hit the back of Zach Steffen’s net in the first minute, everyone thought the Yanks might lose another match following a slip in Panama. All kinds of scenarios were on the table, mostly the negative ones, but in the end, the young American players ended up on top.

Barcelona’s Sergino Dest made the initial step towards the win, and his goal in the 26th minute turned out to be the most important moment of the match. Dest was on the right side of the edge of the box, then headed slightly towards the middle of the same before unleashing a screamer that went into the left upper corner of Keylor Navas’ goal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlWph_ksYZA

The youngster scored one of the most beautiful goals of the US team in the past few years.

“I was like, I have to shoot it,” Dest said. “I was just so happy. We needed that goal. It was a really important goal. Right now, we are on track.”

From that moment on, the intensity on the field was extremely high, and even though the Americans pressured, even more, Costa Rica wouldn’t back out. The guests should even get a penalty in the late phase of the first half when Chris Richards tripped Johan Venegas.

The same continued after the second half kick-off, but as time went by, the home team was the dominant one on the field.

The USA took the lead, having a lot of luck. After 66 minutes of play, Timothy Weah’s shot backfired from the post and hit the Costa Rican goalkeeper, Leonel Moreira, in the back, crossing the goal line.

Moreira came on the pitch due to Navas’ injury, as one of the best goalkeepers in the world picked up an adductor injury.

The Americans had several solid opportunities to increase the victory, but all of them went down the drain. Still, there was no punishment coming from the other side, and we can say that Berhalter’s unit did its job successfully on Wednesday night.

“We weren’t nervous at all,” Weah said after the game. “Obviously, it was a bummer to take the goal pretty early in the game. But we knew what our game plan was, and it was to expose their backline, and I feel like we did that.”

🇺🇸 USA 2-1 Costa Rica 🇨🇷
🇨🇦 Canada 4-1 Panama 🇵🇦
🇭🇳 Honduras 0-2 Jamaica 🇯🇲
🇸🇻 El Salvador 0-2 Mexico 🇲🇽

📊 Leaders Mexico win again, Jamaica revive, USA & Canada earn crucial home wins to wrap up another big week of @Concacaf #WorldCup qualifiers 🏆 pic.twitter.com/XhhPT1fOb5

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) October 14, 2021

The US starting lineup averaged 22 years and 61 days and was the youngest one in the history of the nation in one World Cup qualifier. The oldest American player, Zach Steffen, was younger than the youngest Costa Rican on the field.

Currently, the USA is sitting second in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers standings with 11 points in six games. Mexico tops the list with 14 points, while Canada sits third with 10.

The Canadians defeated Panama pretty convincingly last night, with 4-1. They, too, like the Americans, saw the guests taking the lead early on but afterward rolled over the rival. Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies scored a goal, the same as New England Revolution’s Taejon Buchanan.

Up next, the USA hosts Mexico, while Canada awaits Costa Rica.