The United States rallied from 2 goals down to tie Costa Rica 2-2 at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC last night. Combined with Mexico’s 2-2 tie against Trinidad & Tobago, the result gave the USA top spot in the CONCACAF FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualifying Hexagonal with a total of 20 points.
The result, along with Honduras’ 1-0 win at El Salvador, means that Costa Rica must now face Uruguay in a tricky home and away playoff series for a spot in the World Cup.
Bryan Ruiz’ two sublime goals in the first half gave the Ticos the lead heading into the break. However, inspired by a raucous pro-USA crowd the Stars and Stripes staged a comeback with a scrappy 72nd minute goal from Michael Bradley and a Johnathan Bornstein’s with 30 seconds left in the match.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krnTfNmw3io&w=560&h=340]
Match: United States vs. Costa Rica
Date: October 14, 2009
Competition: FIFA World Cup Qualifier — Final Round
Venue: RFK Stadium — Washington, D.C.
Kickoff: 8 p.m.ET
Attendance: 26,243
Weather: 45 degrees, rain
Scoring Summary:
CRC — Bryan Ruiz (Michael Barrantes) 21st minute
CRC — Bryan Ruiz (Walter Centeno) 24
USA — Michael Bradley 72
USA — Jonathan Bornstein (Robbie Rogers) 90+5
Lineups:
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 12-Jonathan Bornstein; 7-Stuart Holden (9-Robbie Rogers, 69), 16-Benny Feilhaber (14-José Francisco Torres, 63) , 4-Michael Bradley, 10-Landon Donovan; 17-Jozy Altidore, 8-Conor Casey (Kenny Cooper, 79)
Subs not used: 2-Jonathan Spector, 13-Ricardo Clark, 15-Jimmy Conrad, 18-Brad Guzan
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
CRC: 1-Kelor Navas; 16-Christian Montero, 3-Luis Marin, 5-Dennis Marshall (12-Douglas Sequeira, 90+2); 2-Esteban Sirias (15-Junior Diaz, 74), 14-Randall Azofeifa, 10-Walter Centeno (capt.), 6-Michael Barrantes, 17-Pablo Herrera; 9-Alvaro Saborio, 11-Bryan Ruiz (13-Cristian Bolanos, 83)
Subs not used: 4-Michael Umana, 7-Rolando Fonseca, 8-Victor Nunez, 18-Ricardo Gonzalez
Head Coach: René Simões
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ohK8v_Lw9M&w=560&h=340]