I love soccer as much as the next person. But if you were like me and were watching either the USMNT/Costa Rica game or the USMNT/Canada U-23 game, we really could’ve watched something else to pass the time and saved two hours of sheer tedium. The Cubs eliminated the Cardinals in the NLDS, there were CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying games taking place that we could’ve watched. Heck even the debate or whatever the crap Best Time Ever is would’ve been better alternatives than what took place in New Jersey and Utah.
Anyway, if you were lucky enough to miss these barnburning games, Costa Rica defeated the senior USMNT 1-0 while the U-23 USMNT team beat Canada 2-0 after a second yellow card to Giuliano Frano. It resulted in the United States U-23 team heading to Brazil for a one game playoff against Colombia for a spot in the Summer Olympics.
There really isn’t much to say about either of these games. Except for a Tim Ream header off a free kick, there wasn’t another remotely serious attempt at scoring and Costa Rica figured out how to get through the USMNT defense. In the CONCACAF Cup, Mexico was able to breakthrough the backline by dribbling all the way to the endline and then pass the ball back to someone, usually pretty open since the USMNT defenders are chasing the man with the ball, who gets a pretty clean shot off at the top of the box. Mexico did that a few times and that’s how they scored their second goal. Costa Rica did the same thing multiple times and that’s how they scored the only goal for the game.
Now onto the U-23 USMNT’s game where the game didn’t really open up until the red card. Neither the United States and Canada could open up anything as it was such a stalemate. Once the red card happened and the United States being up a man for the entire second half, the U-23 USMNT was finally able to get on the board thanks to this Marc Pelosi goal.
Goal USA – No.15 Marc PELOSI – USA 1-0 CAN #CMOQ2015 #CONCACAF @ussoccer @CanadaSoccerEN http://t.co/85a7hz4fxx
— CONCACAF (@CONCACAF) October 14, 2015
After a second goal by Jerome Kiesewetter off of a penalty kick, the Baby Nats got the 2-0 win and the trip to Brazil. It still wasn’t the best performance and they still need to get past Colombia to get to the Olympics, but at least they did more than the senior team could do. They actually got a win.
