CHICAGO — Clint Dempsey had a goal and two assists Tuesday night, and the United States rebounded from its opening loss in Copa America with a convincing 4-0 victory over Costa Rica.
Jermaine Jones, Bobby Wood and Graham Zusi also scored as the U.S. moved into prime position to grab one of the two spots in the knockout round coming out of Group A in South America’s championship. The Americans take on Paraguay in Philadelphia on Saturday night.
UP NEXT FOR U.S.
WHO: United States vs. Paraguay
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Philadelphia
TELEVISION: FS1
It was a response to days of questions after the U.S. allowed a goal off a corner kick and committed a costly handball in a 2-0 loss to Colombia on Friday night.
Costa Rica, which played a scoreless tie against Paraguay in its Copa opener on Saturday in Florida, looked sluggish for long stretches of the first half and was unable to recover. It played without key defender Kendall Waston after he got a red card in the previous game.
The loss to Colombia ramped up criticism of U.S. Coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who said last month the Copa goal for the Americans was the semifinals.
The U.S. Soccer Federation president, Sunil Gulati, told a group of reporters before the game that recent results for the men’s team “haven’t been what we would have hoped for, especially in the official competitions.”
But Klinsmann and his players insisted they felt pretty good in the team’s performance Friday night in northern California, and the coach doubled down by sending out the same starters. It worked in a big way.
Moments after DeAndre Yedlin’s poor clearing attempt almost set up an early goal for Joel Campbell of Costa Rica, the Americans started to find their way.
Wood was pushed in the back by Cristian Gamboa when he attempted to go after a cross into the box, drawing a penalty kick despite a series of protests in front of referee Roddy Zambrano. Dempsey then drove it past Patrick Pemberton on the goaltender’s left side for a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute.
It was Dempsey’s 50th international goal.
The United States seemed to get stronger as the first half went along, and another flourish in the final minutes before halftime helped put it away.
Jones stole the ball at midfield and passed to Dempsey, who carried it deep into the Costa Rica side. The forward then nudged it back over to Jones, who shot it on the ground past a diving Pemberton in the 37th minute.
With Costa Rica looking a little ragged, the U.S. kept up the attack. Dempsey passed to Wood in the middle, and he turned away from defender Oscar Duarte before beating Pemberton on the ground for a 3-0 lead in the 42nd minute.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.