CHICAGO, IL – JUNE 07: Clint Dempsey #8 of the United States scores a goal on a penalty kick against Patrick Pemberton #18 of Costa Rica during a match in the 2016 Copa America Centenario at Soldier Field on June 7, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Dempsey scores his 50th international goal as the USMNT beat up on Costa Rica

Posted by on Jun 7, 2016 23:52

After a defeat in Saturday’s opener versus Colombia, the USMNT needed a big performance in Tuesday’s meeting with CONCACAF rival Costa Rica. Manager Jürgen Klinsmann fielded the same starting 11 that lost the opener, but this time, some of the squad’s bigger names showed up and gave the US a much-needed bounce back victory. The US managed to score four goals, and despite some sloppy play early, grew into the match as time went on.

It was Costa Rica that came out on the front foot, however, putting the US under pressure early. The USMNT had trouble playing out from the back and their poor passing didn’t help matters. That being said, Costa Rica never managed to seriously test Brad Guzan. Their best chance of the opening ten minutes was an acrobatic attempt from the edge of the box that missed by a few yards.

Despite being playing on the back foot, early, the US made the most of their limited time in Costa Rica’s half. Bobby Wood was shoved from behind and the US was awarded a penalty before the ten-minute mark. Clint Dempsey stepped up and scored to give the host country a 1-0 lead. The goal was Dempsey’s 50th in his international career.

Dempsey talked about scoring his 5oth goal shortly after the match. “You kinda know where you are with the goals you score, it’s nice to be a part of that club to score 50 goals. But the most important thing is we won the game and are still alive in the tournament, now we have to go out and get the job done.”

Costa Rica wasn’t able to replicate their start and seemed to abandon their gameplan as they pushed for an equalizer. A side effect of the change was that the US had more space to get in behind the Costa Rica defense, but none of the US forwards were able to do much as a killer pass in the final third continued to allude them.

The best chances the US did create all seemed to come down the left side. Jermain Jones and Fabian Johnson linked up frequently and caused problems for Costa Rica often in the first half. Jones’ performance in the first half was in stark contrast to his performance in the opener vs Colombia.

Jones made good on his performance in the 37th minute when he scored with a low shot to the Costa Rica keeper’s left. Jones was made the beneficiary of a Dempsey pass that fell kindly to him and finished well. His goal came just minutes after he nearly scored with a brilliant top corner shot, which he narrowly missed.

The American Outlaws barely had time to stop celebrating Jones’ goal before Wood made it 3-0 three minutes before halftime. At that point, it seemed like the US was in complete control. The score didn’t change for the next couple of minutes and the US went into the half with a commanding lead.

The second half saw a much more conservative US team as they looked to kill off any chance, however slim, of a Costa Rica comeback. John Brooks put in a great performance to help snuff out any chances that Costa Rica may have created. Costa Rica had one shot that went off the post, but apart from that, there was little going for them.

The second half was largely quiet for the US as well, granted there was little incentive for the US to actually push forward. Despite this, the US did manage one more goal as substitute Graham Zusi finished from the edge of the box. “Even though we didn’t have the possession we wanted in the second, it was important to score that fourth goal,” said Dempsey who had been substituted for Chris Wondolowski earlier in the half.

After 3 minutes of extra time, the final whistle sounded and the American Outlaws erupted as the USMNT came away with three very big points. A win against Paraguay in the final match of  Group A and the US should secure a spot in the knockout stages. Guzan, who was largely a bystander in the win tonight likes where this team is headed. “Those guys are fantastic, they were all over the field,’ he said, we have big players that can react and change, we did really well.”

About Harrison Prolic

Northern Illinois graduate with a degree in Journalism. Full-time page designer in Madison, Wisconsin. Part time follower of all things German soccer. I tweet about the Bundesliga and plenty of other sports @hprolic.

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