U.S. national team finds its rhythm in crucial victory against Costa Rica

Infographic by Jovanni Arroyo-Camberos

In a must-win game for the U.S., the team who lost 2-0 to Colombia in the opening match of Copa America, ran away with a 4-0 victory Tuesday night against Costa Rica in Chicago, Illinois.

The U.S. national team, and the host nation of the Copa America Centenario 2016, entered the match on the brink of elimination in Group A and now control their own destiny heading into their final match against Paraguay.

Some pressure from U.S. Soccer President, Sunil Gulati, was lifted off of U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s shoulders after the win.

Just before the match had begun, Gulati told a small group of reporters that the results since the beginning of 2015 have not been good enough.

“The results over the last 18 months, overall, have not been what we would've hoped for -- especially in the official competitions," Gulati said in an interview just hours before the match.

Klinsmann and his group of players answered those critics with a decisive victory over ‘Los Ticos.’

The U.S. wasted no time, after a brief stint of pressure and play of confidence from Costa Rica.  Clint Dempsey found the back of the net in the 9’ minute from the penalty spot after U.S. forward Bobby Wood was brought down by Costa Rican defender Cristian Gamboa.

“I think the first ten minutes we were a little bit nervous but you know, when you lose a game you can be out,” said U.S. midfielder Jermaine Jones in a postgame interview. “ ... but I think after ten minutes we controlled the whole game and we scored enough goals and it shows we were the better team.”

After the initial score, the U.S. kept on bringing the pressure. In the 37th minute of the match, the U.S. scored the second goal of the match after Clint Dempsey gave an assist to Jermaine Jones who scored from the 18 yard line.

The celebrations didn’t stop there, Bobby Wood sunk home the third goal for the U.S. in the 47th minute.

‘Los Ticos’ had no response, as both teams went into the locker room with the score staying 3-0.

“It was important for us to get out to an early start and once that second one went in, the third one, you start to get into a rhythm,” said U.S. forward Clint Dempsey in a postgame interview.

Throughout the second half Costa Rica tried looking for answers, in order to get back into the game. The applied pressure from ‘Los Ticos’  had the U.S. on their heels during the beginning of the second half.

The U.S. responded from that pressure, solidifying their victory with the left footed shot from Graham Zusi, who came on as a substitute in the 70th minute. Zusi slotted home a shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner of the goal in the 87th minute to make the final score 4-0.

“We wanted to keep the clean sheet and it was good for us to get a four to nothing [win] with good goal differential,” Dempsey said.  

With the thrashing of Costa Rica, the U.S. are now in First place, amid the match between Colombia and Paraguay who are scheduled to duel it out as part of the second match for both teams in the group stage later tonight.

“The jobs not done and we got to go into the next game and prepare the same and go out and get the job done,” Dempsey said.

The U.S. travel to Philadelphia to meet Paraguay in another must-win match on Saturday to wrap-up their group stage matches. With a victory the U.S. national team will advance to the quarterfinals of Copa America.