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Somehow after beating Mexico 3-2 in a fun, thrilling, scary, and... let’s go with quagmire of a game Gregg Berhalter was not fired and led his team in a friendly against Costa Rica, but any fan with eyes knows he’s on a short leash... OK, OK, I’ll stop.
In the end, the USA played very well. The team lined up in a 4-3-3 and played aggressive attacking soccer. The team scored early and often and thanks to goals from Brenden Aaronson, Daryl Dike, Reggie Cannon, and Gio Reyna, a dominant 4-0 score was the result.
Gifs of highlights and tweets I tweeted
I was running the SSFC Twitter account tonight and I’m extremely proud of this. So here’s some tweets I tweeted to recap the game.
The USA has kept it to 0-0 through 3 minutes so already a better start than against Mexico
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 9, 2021
Here’s a tweet about the first goal:
My fellow Americans, that did not take long, a pass finds Dike in the box and he muscled a defender away enough to find space for a shot which was blocked into the path of Aaronson making a late run who smashed it into the net
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 9, 2021
1-0 EEUU
Here is the first goal:
“To be an anarchist in Salt Lake City was certainly no easy task, especially in 1985. And having no money, no job, no plans for the future, the true anarchist position was in itself a strenuous job.” - I'm sure this quote is about Brenden Aaronson scoring goals https://t.co/2R59shCtxX
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 9, 2021
So this wasn’t exactly right, but there was lots of positional play with Robinson pushing way forward and at times Lletget or Adams drifting over to cover defensively. Antonee was creating a lot of problems for the Ticos early.
So... the Major League Soccer Soccer dot com website says that Lletget is playing left back and Robinson is on the wing, it seems like Lletget is playing that left back/center midfielder thing Berhalter wants to do and that Robinson is indeed playing higher up the pitch
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 9, 2021
This was Costa Rica’s best chance of the half, nice, if not lucky, play by McKenzie to recover and make the professional foul to hold off Campbell.
Costa Rica forces a turnover and sends a long ball forward, Joel Campbell (remember him?) gets on it and seems through on goal after McKenzie fell down, luckily the defender recovered enough to get in his way and knock him over for a yellow at the top of the 18
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 9, 2021
The resulting free kick went off of one of the Costa Rica players and went harmlessly out for a goal kick. A second goal was in the works for the US as the team struck in transition thanks to a pass from McKenzie to Dike.
Terrific pass here from McKenzie and good work by Dike timing his run, 2-0 EEUU https://t.co/nDIBVG5mmN
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 9, 2021
This happened right before the half, Aaronson makes Diego Lainez look like Brek Shea!
Stop it indeed, and watch your mouth young man https://t.co/OKgZe9wS6h
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 10, 2021
Here’s what subs were made at the half.
It's a friendly and the second half is starting so we have some subs
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 10, 2021
EEUU
In emoji - Walker Zimmerman
Out emoji - Mark McKenzie
Ticos
Off - Gerson Torres
On - Ariel Lassiter
Then the Stars and Stripes scored another goal.
Quite a time for a pick 6 https://t.co/g7LZU2RtbJ
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 10, 2021
Here’s another sub:
60 minutes in and Jackson Yueill comes on for Tyler Adams much to the relief of everyone in a red jersey
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 10, 2021
Then the USA made more subs.
Dike, Weah, and Musah make way for Pefok, Reyna, and Acosta with a quarter hour to go
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 10, 2021
I really wanted to do some SLC Punk quotes in the game since it’s the only cultural reference to Utah that I have, so I did that:
Keysher Fuller to Gio Reyna:
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 10, 2021
Complications. A reason to fight. Somebody different. Difference creates dispute. Dispute is a reason to fight. Now, to fight is a reason to feel pain. Life is pain. So to fight with reason is to be alive with reason.
Penalty to the USA
Maybe I should have done some quotes about cowboys, but Gio scored his penalty.
So cool, he's frio, the other side of the pillow called and said - "hey Gio, you're cool" https://t.co/6uw7Bd8dbJ
— Stars and Stripes FC (@StarsStripesFC) June 10, 2021
Costa Rica had a few free kicks after that and a couple of shots on goal that Horvath easily handled. The game wound down and the Stars and Stripes saw it out for a clean sheet and a 4-0 victory.
Declarations of Independence:
- Gregg Berhalter pretty much got everything right in this one.
- What’s it going to be like when Aaronson starts over Pulisic for World Cup qualifiers?
- This was a friendly featuring two not quite first choice teams, but the USA took apart a competitive Costa Rica side. It was nice to see.
- Ethan Horvath almost has a bald head, he’s that close to being the starting keeper for the national team.