The United States men’s national soccer team has received the results it had hoped for so far in the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup — just not in the manner they might have liked.
NESN.com’s Marc DiBenedetto and Marcus O’Mard discussed if the U.S. can find its form in Saturday night’s Gold Cup semifinal against Costa Rica in this week’s episode of the “NESN Soccer Show.”
The U.S. is 2-3-0 against Costa Rica in their last five matches, the most recent of which was a 4-0 defeat in World Cup qualifying on Nov. 15, 2016. That was the low point of the Jurgen Klinsmann era, but Costa Rica still poses a legitimate threat to knock off the Gold Cup favorites.
Despite its 2-0 victory over El Salvador in the quarterfinals, the U.S. never looked sharp and was sucked into an physical slugfest while allowing numerous legitimate scoring chances to the Salvadorans. A similar performance against Costa Rica could result in an unexpected semifinal loss.
Fans should expect a more cohesive U.S. squad against Costa Rica after two more days of training together. If the Americans can put together a good performance Saturday, then there will be no reason to believe they will not hoist the Gold Cup in 2017.
Thumbnail photo via Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports Images
