MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. men’s national team scraped past Costa Rica in a dramatic Gold Cup quarterfinal here on Sunday, winning 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw over 90 roller-coaster minutes.
The USMNT erased an early deficit, but blew a second-half lead. Then, after the 90 minutes ended level, it blew another lead in a roller-coaster shootout. But goalkeeper Matt Freese, in his first month as the U.S. starter, made three massive saves to one-up Costa Rican legend Keylor Nava and send the USMNT through to the semifinals, where they'll face Guatemala.
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"Penalties are my thing," Freese said post-match. "[On] the plane ride over here to Minnesota, I was studying penalties. I've been studying them all week and I was ready for it if we needed it."
Freese first sprung low to his left. Conversions from Tyler Adams and Malik Tillman — who'd missed a penalty in regulation — put the U.S. ahead. But Sebastian Berhalter's miss relinquished the advantage.
Freese then stood his ground, in the center of the goal, to slap away a penalty from Francisco Calvo. That gave John Tolkin a chance to win the shootout for the U.S., but his well-struck penalty was saved by a sprawling Navas.
Freese, though, was not done. He denied Andy Rojas. Substitute U.S. striker Damion Downs then stepped up, scored, and sparked the wild celebrations.
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The night began with the U.S. going behind in the 12th minute. Max Arfsten's clumsy tackle gave Costa Rica a penalty. Francisco Calvo converted.
And for 20 minutes thereafter, the U.S. struggled. After half an hour, it had two shots and zero on goal.
The USMNT looked as stagnant as ever, until Malik Tillman played a slick one-two with Patrick Agyemang. Tillman's cross came to nothing, but a Costa Rican follow-through caught his ankle. A few minutes later, referee Walter Lopez went to the monitor, and, after a VAR review, pointed to the penalty spot.
Tillman stepped up, and missed the penalty. But from there, the U.S. came alive.
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Arfsten, who was at fault on both Costa Rica goals, set up Diego Luna for a deflected equalizer.
And then, after halftime, Arfsten put the U.S. ahead. Tillman, whose head had dropped after missing the penalty, engineered an incisive attacking move to set him up.
From then on, their first-half faults were forgotten. The U.S. looked comfortable. A semifinal matchup with Guatemala, and a path to a final against Mexico, seemed to have opened up.
But in the 71st minute, Costa Rica's Carlos Mora split Arfsten and Luca de la Torre, and knifed into the box. He fired a shot at Freese. He took the rebound, and teed up Alonso Martínez for Costa Rica's second goal of the night.
From there, it was Los Ticos who pressed for a winner. Martínez slammed a well-hit shot off the post in the 85th minute.
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Neither side could find a winner, though, and a tense match went to penalties.
That's where Freese came up huge to send the Americans to the semifinals, where they'll face Guatemala on Wednesday in St. Louis.
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