For perhaps one 10 minute span, the worst-case scenario seemed slightly possible, but by avoiding a six-goal defeat that was never realistically going to transpire, the U.S. men’s national team is headed back to the World Cup.
A 2–0 defeat at Estadio Nacional in San José, Costa Rica, did not prevent the U.S. from achieving its goal, with the U.S. finishing third in Concacaf’s World Cup qualifying Octagonal and securing a place in Qatar. The result did extend the U.S.’s run of futility playing in Costa Rica, where it fell to 0-10-2 all-time, and 0-10-1 in qualifying. But thanks to the draw earned in Mexico and thrashing of Panama earlier this window, all that was required for the U.S. was to avoid a hefty loss that would have allowed Costa Rica to make up a sizable +10 goal-differential gap. Despite goals in the 51st and 59th minutes from Juan Pablo Vargas and Anthony Contreras, that did not happen.
Costa Rica, knowing that its most likely outcome was a fourth-place finish and a spot in an intercontinental playoff against New Zealand, didn’t exactly make things hard on the U.S., at least on the surface. With a number of key players carrying yellow cards, and with another in this match enough to rule them out via accumulation for the prospective playoff, the hosts played it safe. Regulars Joel Campbell, Francisco Calvo, Celso Borges, Bryan Ruiz, Johan Venegas and Bryan Oviedo were absent from the XI, with Calvo and Borges not even on the teamsheet for the night.
