Matt Freese provided penalty heroics as the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) advanced to the semifinals of the Gold Cup after extra time in St. Louis on Sunday night.
USMNT lost a 2-1 lead as Freese’s New York City FC teammate Alonso Martinez hammered home the equalizer, which forced the game to a shootout with no extra time played.
Martinez scored his penalty after giving his teammate a wink — and Costa Rica’s first — against Freese, but the 26-year-old went down to his left to save Juan Pablo Vargas’ penalty. Costa Rica tied up the shootout after Sebastian Berhalter skied his spot kick.
Substitute Alexander Freeman made it 3-3 in penalties, and Freese produced back-to-back saves against Francisco Calvo, whose shot Freese palmed away in the middle, and against Andy Rojas, where the goalkeeper guessed the right way.
Former New York Red Bulls defender John Tolkin’s penalty was saved against Keylor Navas, and allowed Damion Downs to clinch the knockout tie in the sixth round for the U.S. in a packed-out U.S. Bank Stadium.
Calvo scored an earlier penalty in the 12th minute when Maximilian Arfsten dove into a tackle late to put the Americans behind, but Diego Luna’s spin-and-finish in the 43rd minute levelled the game, leaving Malik Tillman’s missed penalty in the past. Tillman saw a weak penalty saved by Keylor Navas in the 37th minute to keep the Ticos ahead before Luna’s first international goal.
After the break, Arfesten turned goal-scorer — completing his conceded-penalty redemption arc — in the 47th minute after Tillman found the left-back at the far post. Arfsten duly slid his first international goal into the far post.
The U.S. continued to threaten with Patrick Agyemang — who had a strong performance playing with his back towards goal — and Chris Richards, but could not convert either chance.
Richards, the hero from the Saudi Arabia game, scored an almost carbon copy of the goal he scored against the Middle Eastern side — Sebastian Berhalter’s freekick found Richards at the first man, but Navas’s cat-like save kept out a potential third.
The USMNT’s defense had to weather waves of Costa Rican attacks, and it finally fell when Carlos Mora squirmed through two defenders to unleash a shot in the 71st minute. Freese parried the shot back towards Mora, who squared the ball to Martinez for 2-2.
Unlike Honduras and Guatemala before them, Costa Rica could not replicate the penalty-shootout winning underdog storyline that has swept the Gold Cup knockout stages so far. Panama was knocked out 5-4 on penalties — Eduardo Guerrero sent his shot off-target, and Honduran Carlos Pineda sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to win the tie.
Canada played the second half with 10 men due to Jacob Shaffelburg’s rough challenge and Guatemala found a breakthrough in the 69th minute through Rubio Rubin. In the shootout, 19-year-old Luc De Fougerolles slammed his penalty against the crossbar, and Guatemala snapped at their second chance to kill the game. José Moreales smashed his penalty down the middle and fell to his knees as he was flooded by his teammates.
