EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — The U.S. came into last night’s Gold Cup game against Costa Rica looking for a statement, itching to prove their snowy March win over the Ticos was no fluke. And it took just 18 lightning-fast seconds for the makeshift U.S. to flip what could have been a loss into a record-setting 1-0 win.
The U.S. turned a huge Sean Johnson save on one end into a Brek Shea counterattack goal on the other. A shutout by the former and the first international goal by the latter clinched Group C for the U.S., a Sunday quarterfinal date vs. El Salvador and yet another big win over the Ticos before 25,432 at Rentschler Field.
“They could have said, ‘It’s OK, we’ve won the group with a tie.’ But a tie is not fine with us, so the team pushed and grinded it to the last minute and got a beautiful goal,’’ said coach Jurgen Klinsmann, whose team sent a message to Costa Rica before their Sept. 6 World Cup qualifier. “I made it clear there was a lot at stake. It’s Costa Rica. We want a benchmark. We want to send them a signal.’’
Costa Rica packed in with five defenders and nearly stole a win when ex-Red Bull Carlos Johnson headed Celso Borges’ corner on frame, a vicious blast that Johnson somehow saved. Herculez Gomez kept the ball alive to Joe Corona, who cleared it out to Landon Donovan for a blistering counterattack.
Donovan threaded a perfect through ball to a sprinting Shea, who had struggled badly against Cuba and been subbed off at halftime. But Klinsmann went back to him last night, and Shea repaid that faith by outrunning Giancarlo Gonzalez and putting a shot past goalkeeper Patrick Pemberton for the 82nd-minute winner.
“I saw all the green grass and thought, ‘Just be there in case someone finds me,’ ’’ said Shea, who admitted he didn’t expect to start. “I just wanted to get back out there. That was the only way to get rid of the last game… It makes me feel good [Klinsmann] has that confidence in me, still believes in me and put me out there and didn’t give up on me.’’
Shea’s goal was the first the Costa Ricans had allowed in 785 minutes, not since the U.S. beat them 1-0 in a snowy World Cup qualifying win. The Costa Rican federation filed a protest over the blizzard conditions in Denver that day, but now the U.S. backed that with another win, a team-record eighth straight.
“Any national team that wins eight in a row is a special accomplishment,” Donovan said. “Hopefully by the end of the tournament its 11 in a row. Sometimes in a game where a team has its whole team playing defensively, you’ve got to find one moment to make a special play, and we were able to do that.