Sergino Dest, and Tim Weah were two young Americans who have come back from the failures of four years before.
In the 25th minute, Keylor Navas was untied and Dest shot a left-footed, 18-yard goal. Weah’s attempt to score the goal in the 25th minute was deflected from the near post by Leonel Moreiera, who then saved the U.S. goalkeeper. The U.S. won 2-1 Wednesday night. This relief eased some of the pressure that had been building as qualifying approached the halfway point.
Dest, 20, said that “We can’t lose again.” “We needed it really badly,”
Zack Steffen, goalkeeper, was one of nine new starters who were inserted after Sunday’s disappointing 1-0 loss to Panama. He made a costly head clearance that led Keysher Fuller to score 60 seconds into the match. This is the fastest goal the U.S. has conceded in 23 years.
After Weah had switched to the opposing side, Yunus Musah passed the ball to Dest on the right flank. This ended a streak that saw eight consecutive first halves without an American goal. Dest cut towards the center and curled it just beyond Navas’ outstretched right arm into the upper corner.
Navas was injured in the adductor muscle and had to leave at half-time
Weah is a 21-year old son of Liberia President George Weah and was added to the line-up shortly before kickoff, after Paul Arriola had injured his right groin in warmups.
“Everything was a rush. Weah stated, “I had to get ready quickly and warm up.”
Matthew Hoppe was on the touchline, about to replace Weah. Weston McKennie passed it to Dest, and he dished to Weah. His angle shot of 10 yards hit the post, and it ricocheted off a diving Moreira.
Weah stated, “It just so happens that the ball came out of Serge’s reach and I saw it run.” “I hit it once, and it went in.”
Weah was originally credited with a goal. However, Moreira changed it to an individual goal.
Gregg Berhalter, U.S. coach, stated that “We’ll speak to FIFA about this.”
Mexico leads the table with 14 points following a win at El Salvador 2-0. The United States has 11 points after six of 14 matches leading up to its November 12 match with El Tri at Cincinnati.
Canada now has 10, following a victory over Panama (4-1). Panama has 8. The top three teams will qualify for the World Cup next year, while the fourth place team will advance to a playoff.
Costa Rica (six), El Salvador (five each), and Honduras (3).
Berhalter was criticised for not resting many of the front-line Panaman players, in order to give them fresh legs against Ticos. Teams that win at home are more likely to qualify.
Steffen, an ex-Columbus keeper, was making his first qualifying start over Matt Turner. He got into trouble after he failed to clear Dest’s clearance in the first minute.
Bryan Ruiz kept it in by passing a backheel to Ronald Mattarita. He dribbled down the sideline and crossed. Fuller, who was just outside the 6-yard box with Fuller’s right foot, volleyed the ball in the goal area. The ball bounced inside the far post and became his second international goal.
Steffen stated, “I felt like he was in front of my eyes and I thought that he was offside.”
Fuller was the fastest to score against the U.S. since Ronald de Boer, the Netherlands, on February 21, 1998.
“My first thought was, “Here we go. Berhalter stated that they had to respond. After a bad performance in Panama, we challenged the men to respond. This was another factor that we had to address. We were already in the game and I felt that we would be fine if we kept calm and stayed true to our game plan.
Costa Rica’s starting line-up averaged more 30 years older than the pro-American crowd at the first international match in Lower.com Field. This was before a crowd of 20,165. Ticos coach Luis Fernando Suarez retained nine starters from Sunday’s 2-1 win at El Salvador.
Berhalter was the youngest U.S. qualifier at 22 years and 229 days. Only 18-year old Musah, Weah were left from Sunday’s starters. He gave Chris Richards, a 21-year-old defender, his first competitive start.
Hoppe (20 years old) entered the 73rd position and Gianluca Busio (19 years old) was five minutes later. Steffen and Richards joined them to increase U.S. qualifying appearances to 25, which is more than the 1998 (29), 2006 (26 each) and 2010 (26).
The inexperience was overcome by sprightly muscles.
“All of World Cup qualification is difficult. Berhalter stated that all of World Cup qualifying was difficult and sometimes people forget that. People think it’s easy. We’re going up against the youngest U.S. team ever in a match and will breeze through these games. It is not possible.
Notes: Hector Moreno scored at the 30th minute, and Raul Jimenez scored his 28th international goal at San Salvador in the third minute. … Amir Murillo’s goal in the 28th minute tied the score after Rolando Blackburn had put Toronto ahead in the fifth minutes. Alphonso Davies scored in 66th, Tajon Bucanan in 71st, and Jonathan David in 78th. This was his sixth qualifying goal. Jamaica won 2-0 with Kemar Roofe scoring his first international goal in 38 minutes and Oniel Fischer scoring in the 79th at San Pedro Sula.
