The United States men’s national team lost its final World Cup qualifier on Wednesday but is headed to the 2022 World Cup with a third-place finish in CONCACAF’s Octagonal.
[ MORE: USMNT World Cup qualifying schedule ]
Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas played a brilliant first half and Los Ticos scored twice off U.S. errors in the box to win 2-0 in San Jose on Wednesday.
Man City goalkeeper Zach Steffen won’t want to watch the highlights of a slow reaction to Juan Pablo Vargas’ 51st-minute header off a set piece and a misadventure that helped Anthony Contreras double the advantage.
These numbers may be a little high due to the misleading score line and the fact that the goal was simply not to lose by less than six goals.
USMNT player ratings at Costa Rica
GK – Zack Steffen: 4 – Fought the ball all night. Slow to react on the goal and should’ve stopped it, perhaps surprised to see Zimmerman lose an aerial duel. Lost track of his positioning after failing to catch a cross on the Costa Rican second.
RB – DeAndre Yedlin (Off 61′): 7 – Rampaged up and down the right side, making a strong case for himself in a very decent pool of fullbacks. Five tackles, two interceptions, and 9-of-10 duels won.
CB – Walker Zimmerman: 5.5 – Second-straight game where the opposition scores against him on a set-piece.
CB – Miles Robinson:6.5 – Steady and fast, it will be interesting to see the eventual odd man out between Robinson, Zimmerman, and Chris Richards. And that’s if John Brooks doesn’t get a call.
LB – Antonee Robinson: 5.5 – Brilliant moving forward but his crosses weren’t to their normal standard and he won’t like that he couldn’t be in front of his man on the second goal.
DM – Tyler Adams (Off HT): 7.5 – Carrying a ginger gait after just a few minutes of play, the team’s Swiss Army knife was still solid, steady, and put out plenty of fires before departing at halftime
CM – Kellyn Acosta: 5.5 – Passed well but was second-best in arriving to most of his duels.
CM – Yunus Musah: 7 – It’ll be exciting to follow his continued growth at Valencia and see where he might land with a solid World Cup. Smooth, steady, and still learning when to make his runs.
RW – Tim Weah (Off 61′): 5.5 – Didn’t get back to stop cross on second goal. Some promising first-half moments in attack.
LW – Christian Pulisic (Off 83′): 6 – Decent set-piece service but was pummeled by Los Ticos and it’s a surprise he wasn’t lifted sooner for safety’s sake.
CF – Ricardo Pepi (Off 61′): 6 – Will see Keylor Navas in his dreams after putting three shots on goal in industrious 19-touch performance.
Substitutes
Luca de la Torre (On HT): 6.5 – One fantastic dribble and progression early underlined his growth. Tidy and tougher than he appears. Let’s not punish him for not being Adams.
Shaq Moore (On 61′): 6 – Job done.
Jesus Ferreira (On 61′): 5.5 – Job done.
Giovanni Reyna (On 61′): 6 – Job done.
[ VIDEO: Premier League highlights ]
Follow @NicholasMendola
