What a wild World Cup Qualifier! The US and Costa Rican national teams literally just played in a blizzard. Snow was falling at the game’s start, and by the end of the game 2 hrs later there had to be a solid 2-3 inches of snow on the ground. Local forecasts said it would continue to snow for another 12 hrs.
I’ll say Costa Rica earned a lot of respect from me last night. These guys aren’t used to playing in the COLD, much less BLIZZARD conditions. Yet they fought on throughout the entire match and even had a few chances to tie the game up. When the ref was considering stopping the game they were right next to the US players lobbying for the game to continue. I can think of some other teams *cough*MEXICO*cough* who would have done an incredible impersonation of lawn chairs and just folded.
Video Highlights after the break.
MNT vs. Costa Rica: Highlights – March 22, 2013 (Youtube link for mobile)
Several US players put in some good performances. Altidore was very active, had a hand in one goal and almost another. The entire backline of Cameron, Goodson, Gonzalez, and Beasley did a phenomenal job. Klinsman made a good choice going with a huge defense (altho, he may not have had much choice with injuries :) ) because it turned into a “punt it wherever you can” game at several points and having a bunch of guys who can win headers, 50/50 balls, and toe pokes came in really handy. Zusi had a good start, although I don’t rate him as a 90min player at this point since he seems to only have an impact for about 20mins. Dempsey, as usual, was Dempsey. Jones had a great start and was able to continue even though I was sure he would have to be subbed out after taking a kick in the shin and having to be taped up.
It certainly wasn’t a pretty match, but during World Cup Qualifying you’ll take any win you can get.
Next up…. USA vs Mexico, in Mexico City, at over 7000ft elevation
more reading:
- Washington Post Match Report by Steven Goff
- Match Report at USSoccer.com
- Post-Match Quotes at USSoccer.com
You can say what ever you want USA, but this is not the safest way to play a game, not even you guys could step on your feet with that many snow… Shame on FIFA and shame on your team, who had to do this to win 3 points!!! Hope you guys get to the next phase, so everyone can see, on International TV, around the world, that you don’t deserve to be there, cause your Team is not good enough to play on a well scenario and you had to use your FIFA friends to be there…
LMAO! First, I gave lots of credit to Costa Rica, to their credit they wanted to keep playing (watch the game again, they are lobbying the ref along with the USA players). Unlike Mexico which would have gone off crying like a baby (again).
1) It’s not like the snow gave *anybody* an advantage, as you say yourself “not even you guys could step on your feet with that many snow”. 2) this match was scheduled MONTHS AGO, it’s not like they planned for the snow. 3) If we can’t play in the cold then Mexico can’t host in Azteca anymore, and games in Costa Rica during the summer should be held indoors with air conditioning so the temperature is a reasonable 70 degrees.