David Ochoa Stars as US Lack Rhythm in Cup Opening Win vs. Costa Rica

As I sit here roughly twenty-four hours after the United States opened the Olympic qualifiers against rival Costa Rica I still cannot get away from how unenthused I was throughout the entirety of this match. This was a game we should have taken control of the group, showed the talent we have down the roster, and have others in the tournament not wanting to play us; we blew it.

I know, I know, a bit harsh for opening a tournament with a win, three points. On paper, fantastic, clean sheet and tied for first with Mexico, but they lead due to goal differential. As I have said in my previous post, this team needed to come out ready to go, in order to keep up with a high powered Mexican side in the group. There are positives from this match but far more questions left unanswered.

The Starting Lineup:

Keeper: David Ochoa

Defenders: Pineda, Glas, Herrera, Vines

Midfielders: Dotson, Yueill, Mihailovic

Forwards: Lewis, Ferreira, Michel

My post lineup release thoughts were good, Ferreira is a hot commodity right now amongst the world, Michel is a very fast winger. The midfielder pairing was favorable for us and with Vines leading the defense you'd think the young Ochoa wouldn't have much to do in a surprise start with Marcinkowski not match fit.

The match started with a hard press from Costa Rica that we were able to break out of that ended with Jesus Ferreira in a wonderful opportunity which he rung off the post. 90 seconds in, so close to a lead and you'd think a different game would have followed.

Costa Rica kept the press on for the entirety of the match without tiring, which was rather impressive with the heat and altitude they were dealing with in Guadalajara. This press saw a pretty abysmal performance out of the midfielders, I wouldn't be surprised to see a completely different three in the middle on Sunday vs the Dominican Republic.

The only goal of the match was scored in the 35th minute by no other than post hitting Jesus Ferreira. Center back Pineda gave Sam Vines the ball on the left-flank in plenty of space, he took a couple touches and whipped in a low cross that eventually found a wide open Ferreira. Big shout to Hassani Dotson for the run that pulled a defender away giving Ferreira as much space as he had. If that run is not made this ball is most definitely cleared before any real danger occurs.

That was really it for the offense in this match, we had two shots on goal, one went in and one didn't.

The man of the match was undoubtedly David Ochoa in goal. Making saves through the entire match from an awful lot of giveaways by our back line, created by a rather impressive press from Costa Rica. By the end of 90 minutes Costa Rica had 19 shots with 8 of them being on goal, Ochoa saving all of them. Ochoa showed discipline and also dictated the defense extremely well through corner kicks, staying put when needed and coming out of goal to clear when needed. Manager Jason Kreis should be looking at this performance as a showcase for who should be the starter the rest of the tournament. In a match when your midfield and defense lets you down, you need your keeper to step up, and that is exactly what Ochoa did last night.

The US used all five subs as expected in the weather conditions given to them by Guadalajara. Perea and Saucedo came on for Mihailovic and Michel in the 59th minute, Soto for goal scorer Ferreira om the 67th, Cardoso for Dotson in the 82nd and Araujo for Lewis in the 83rd. None of the five subs made any impact of note in a pretty sloppy game from the USMNT.

Mexico handled business against the Dominican Republic 4-1 immediately after we finished out match leaving the group looking as follows:

Mexico: 3 Pts, +3 GD

USA: 3 Pts: +1 GD

Costa Rica: 0 Pts, -1 GD

Dominican Republic; 0 Pts, -3 GD

The United States are back in action Sunday at 7pm ET vs Dominican Republic at Akron Stadium. It almost feels like we need to bounce back even though we are coming off of a victory. We should beat the Dominicans but we need to make sure it is a lot more complete match to be more prepared for Mexico on Wednesday night.

Other USMNT news, we have announced another friendly, this one on May 30th vs Switzerland as a warm up game for the CONCACAF Nations League semi finals coming the first week of June. We will be looking forward to that as the US goes for their first senior trophy since the 2017 Gold Cup.

Until next time, thanks for reading, USA USA USA

David Mains

Yanks In Europe