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Brad Guzan practises his snow angel in the upright position
USA 1 : 0 Costa Rica
Match Report by Paul Crabbe at DSG Park
See Corbin Elliott’s Match Photo Gallery
Crisis in the locker room? Losing the first match of qualifying? Snow problem.
Call it Snowmageddon, SnOMG, the Rocky Mountain Whiteout, or the Abominable Snow-Match (just a few of the many ways this match would be described by the many media outlets that covered this match):
For the 19,374 who came from all four corners of the country to brave the elements at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on a cold snowy Friday night in suburban Denver, they witnessed the USMNT turn around their fortunes after a poor start to the hexagonal phase.
In 90 minutes, they jumped from the cellar to 2nd place in the table with a 1-0 win against Los Ticos in Matchday 2 of the Hexagonal Phase of the 2014 World Cup Qualifying for CONCACAF. This match was a reason why we as people watch sports, as it will always create memories that will live in folklore and will be engraved in the hearts of fans for years to come.
With Mexico slipping up against Honduras earlier in the day blowing a 0-2 lead to draw 2-2 and Jamaica and Panama running to a 1 all draw earlier in the day, taking all 3 points to both sides involved in the match were very critical as both sides have a long way to travel for their matches on Tuesday (albeit Costa Rica gets their Tuesday match at home to Jamaica).
As the match drew nearer, the snow started to fall harder. Even with the best efforts of the regular Colorado Rapids groundskeepers (which did an amazing job all match keeping the important lines shoveled and visible): except for the touchlines, midfield line, center circle, and the penalty areas, the pitch was like a scene out of a Christmas card with plenty of snow.
As the match progressed, the snow and the temperature dropped together faster in succession.
One of the main talking points of the match for days to come will involve the man US boss Jurgen Klinsmann put his faith in wearing the captains armband in midfielder Clint Dempsey.
Sidelined the past few weeks at his Tottenham Hotspur club with a calf injury and only playing half of that match, Deuce played the full 90 in the cold and altitude, and provided the lone, but all important goal in the 16th minute.
After Dempsey shot a prayer that just barely sailed wide left of the Tico net, the ensuing goal kick went straight to Graham Zusi, who started a counter attack with a pass to Dempsey, which Dempsey passed off to Jozy Altidore, who made an attempt on goal, which ricocheted off defender Roy Miller, bounced right into the middle, and Dempsey, following the play, finished into a wide open net which put the Yanks ahead and for good.
Around the 42nd minute, the Yanks had the cause for a penalty when Dempsey was blatantly tripped up in the box, but no call was made.
Dempsey didn’t feel much that there was a penalty on the trip, but did comment the ensuing handball in the box as play went on should’ve been ruled a penalty.
As one would expect, the patience and frustration with the Tico players and technical staff fell just as quickly as the snow did.
Tico Captain Bryan Ruiz was quoted that the match “should’ve been suspended in the 16th minute”.
Costa Rica Manager Jorge Pinto couldn’t hold back his feelings about the conditions after the match:
“It disrespected the integrity of the game and the integrity of the players. I feel it is an embarrassment. We’re going to talk about our options.”
Costa Rica’s Federation Vice President Jorge Hidalgo doubled-down on his manager’s comments, stating that his federation plans to protest this match to FIFA.
He expressed that his frustration that this match wasn’t suspended but over in Europe earlier that day a qualifier between Russia and Northern Ireland in Belfast was in lesser conditions (and today Saturday, the same fixture was postponed again to another date TBD).
“You can’t play in that. In these conditions, the referee has to suspend the game. For sure there is going to be a protest [to FIFA].
We hope this referee is going to be suspended for a month at least. Today another game was suspended in Europe [Northern Ireland-Russia] in less conditions than this one.”
Around the 55th minute, Salvadoran referee Joel Aguilar and Victor Daniel, FIFA’s Appointed Match Commissioner from Grenada, stopped the match to discuss continuing the match considering the snowing was falling even harder and accumulating more than earlier in the match.
The match continued after about 3 minutes of debate. After the match Klinsmann admitted that he was not going to let this match be abandoned over snow.
“I grew up in the snow. I played those games when I was little for many, many years. You adjust to the conditions. You try as much as you can to push it to their half and start the game from there.
You can’t pass through the channels to the midfield” Klinsmann had to say about playing in the snow…which he pushed further why he ran out of his box towards the referee when the match was stopped in the 55th minute.
“That’s why I went on the field with my bad Spanish…I didn’t want them to stop the game. They were only lines. Clear them up and keep playing.”
As the snow dug deep into the patience of all the players, it also caused for some nervy defense from the yanks, which also caused about the last exciting moment of this match and almost led to both sides sharing points in this fixture.
| HEXAGONAL UPDATED TABLE | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Honduras | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | USA | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 3 | Mexico | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | Panama | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 5 | Jamaica | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 6 | Costa Rica | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
Around the 68th minute, Jermaine Jones, after beating Bryan Ruiz to a ball, lost his mind and gave Ruiz an elbow and was lucky enough to not see yellow or red, setting up a dangerous free kick deep in the final 3rd.
Despite being cleared away easily, Herculez Gomez gave up the ball easily back to the Ticos and Michael Bradley had to throw himself in to concede a corner after a hard Roy Miller attempt on goal.
The defense still struggled on the ensuing corner to defend and it looked like Costa Rica drew level after Michael Umana headed in a goal from a great cross in from Michael Barrantes, but Joel Aguilar’s assistant William Torres, right on top of the play, correctly ruled the play to be offside, and the goal was called back.
Lineups:
USA : 1-Brad Guzan; 20-Geoff Cameron, 21-Clarence Goodson, 7-DaMarcus Beasley; 13-Jermaine Jones (6-Maurice Edu, 83), 4-Michael Bradley; 19-Graham Zusi (18-Eddie Johnson, 75), 8-Clint Dempsey, 9-Herculez Gomez (5-Kyle Beckerman, 90+4); 17-Jozy Altidore
Subs not used: 22-Sean Johnson, 12-Nick Rimando, 2-Tony Beltran, 14-Matt Besler, 3- Omar Gonzalez, 15- Justin Morrow, 10-Joe Corona, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 11-Brek Shea, 23-Terrence Boyd
Head Coach: Jurgen Klinsmann
CRC : 1-Keylor Navas, 2-Christian Gamboa (6-Juan Diego Madrigal, 81), 3-Giancarlo Gonzalez, 4-Michael Umaña, 7-Cristian Bolaños (12-Joel Campbell, 62), 8-Bryan Oviedo (16-Diego Calvo, 73), 9-Alvaro Saborio, 10-Bryan Ruiz (capt.), 11-Michael Barrantes, 13-Ariel Rodriguez, 19-Roy Miller
Subs not used: 18-Patrick Pemberton, 5-Celso Borges, 14-Christopher Meneses, 15-Osvaldo Rodriguez, 17-Yeltsin Tejeda, 20-Kendall Waston, 21-Keylor Soto, 22-Jairo Arrieta
Head coach: Jorge Luis Pinto
Stats Summary: USA / CRC
Shots: 6 / 8
Shots on Goal: 1 / 5
Saves: 5 / 0
Corner Kicks: 2 / 4
Fouls: 16 / 15
Offsides: 1 / 5
Misconduct Summary:
CRC – Roy Miller (caution) 49th minute
CRC – Giancarlo Gonzalez (caution) 90
Officials:
Referee: Joel Aguilar (SLV)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Zumba (SLV)
Assistant Referee 2: William Torres (SLV)
Fourth Official: Marlon Mejía (SLV)
24 Comments
I would have liked to see more protests from the coach and players during the match. It was clear that if they had disagreed the match would have been stopped. They clearly thought they were going to grab an away point and lost.
I like the idea that Klinsman would not allow the game to be cancelled, as if he has any say in the matter whatsoever. It is not his choice, and if it was it wouldn’t be his choice alone, the other coach would have to agree with him.
“They clearly thought they were going to grab an away point and lost.”
Aron,
you’re attributing a lot of views to them without any proof of what they were actually thinking.
There was even confusion on the telecast with no clear division between the authority of the Match Commissioner and the referee. I think the latter made an error by conducting discussions with the players on the pitch in full view of the cameras. That debate should have been with the coaches and out of view of the cameras.
It’s no wonder that onlookers drew the conclusion that the players had some input to the decision to play on.
Last I checked, the Americans had to play in the snow as well. One team put it in the net in adverse conditions, the other did not…in the same conditions. End of story. #movealong
I tend to get very irritated when a coach blames the pitch for a result. Therefore, logic would prompt me to agree with Raymond’s point.
I wonder if the game had gone 0-1 Costa Rica, or even 1-1 if they would be lodging a complaint. I think that the conditions sucked for every man out on that pitch in shorts, equally.
While I am pretty shocked that the game wasn’t called, isn’t it the referee’s decision? Would it undermine the ref’s authority for FIFA to determine that the game should be replayed?
Katlin,
Let’s be pragmatic. Had the away side won 1-0, quite a few in the US media (and Costa Rican football hierarchy) would be singing a different tune.
The only minor difference I can think of, and it doesn’t amount to anything closer to a coherent complaint by Los Ticos, is that US Soccer chose Denver deliberately because the weather conditions would prove hostile to a coastal Central American nation. But that is the right of the home nation, is it not? And USSF has been criticised for may years in the past for not doing exactly this, prefering to fill the stadium, with expatriots from the away nation.
So I agree with your first point, Costa Rica would not be complaining had the result gone differently.
On the latter point, yes. The lines were visible. There was no obvious risk to player safety. The ball rolled one circumference. There was no reason to abandon the game within the rule book, if both sides did not agree.
What FIFA will have to do is make a coherent case why the circumstances in Belfast were different.
I have zero doubt that the US would be MUCH more vocal for the injustice had we lost. That’s kinda what we do.
How do you have a discussion out of view of the cameras on the field with the coaches? The referee is in charge of the game after it is started, the Concacaf representative has no say in the state of the field. The referee can ask the coaches what their opinions are, but he has the ultimate say on safety issues. No one can overrule him on the field.
The sides do not have to agree Editor, the safety decision lies with the referee regardless of anyone elses opinion. If the referee determined that it was not safe to continue, he would have stopped it.
“How do you have a discussion out of view of the cameras on the field with the coaches?”
I never said it had to be on the field.
“The sides do not have to agree Editor, the safety decision lies with the referee regardless of anyone elses opinion. If the referee determined that it was not safe to continue, he would have stopped it.”
Not quite what I meant Dustin. Yes, the decision lies with the referee. But if BOTH coaches deemed it a risk to player safety, no referee in the world is going to send the players back out.
http://www.concacaf.com/staticFiles/c9/90/0,,12813~168137,00.pdf
Page 28 you’ll find the pertinent stuff. If there is doubt the referee makes the decision, once the game is started the referee makes the decision to abandon, the game is replayed the next day weather permitting.
Oh yes of course you shouldn’t do that. That doesn’t mean it’s their choice though. And they would have a hearing if one or both of the teams refused to play citing injury concerns. It wouldn’t be “Oh the coaches said they wouldn’t play so no problem.”
No referee would leave the field and go back down the tunnel without suspending the game. The game would have to be suspended and at that point, you would be considering abandoning it.
Any short discussion about a game’s future can be counted as a suspension. I have seen refs take the players off for hail, snowstorms, thunder and even the occasional riot in my time.
Refs take the players off for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they go back on, sometimes not.
Maybe The Costa Ricans should have taken some dives and rolled around injured to indicate that they lost their footing in the dangerous conditions.
Dustin,
In reality, no ref is going to overrule both coaches if they are in agreement.
Bumpy pitches where the ball goes galloping across the field — match start times at 1pm with 95 degree / 95% humidity — high altitude venues where even walking fast has you gasping for air — heavy metal music blasting all night in the parking lot across the street from the team hotel — hostile fans lobbing bags of urine and who-knows-what-else at the opposing team as they take the field.
What do these scenarios have in common? These are conditions that team USA have all faced during road WCQ matches. So I’m rather enjoying all the whining & complaining by the Costa Rican team / federation. And as previous commentators have posted, the conditions were the same for both teams. ‘Nuff said!
Yes but FIFA could definitely punish them.
No that is simply not true. You have to suspend the game officially and take the players off the pitch and you have to write a report. It’s not a subtle thing, it’s a big deal.
Obviously this wasn’t handled properly, in my opinion what was being played wasn’t even soccer. The referee should’ve suspended the game and if the weather didn’t get better, terminated it and tried again tomorrow.
I said I wouldn’t comment on my own article…but i’ll chime in with one of the last lines of FIFA’s Law 5 which is the law that speaks of the Center Referee:
Decisions of the Referee
The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including
whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final.
The referee may only change a decision on realising that it is incorrect or, at his
discretion, on the advice of an assistant referee or the fourth official, provided
that he has not restarted play or terminated the match.
In my opinion: a protest will go nowhere because of that. Now could Aguilar and his crew face discipline for this? It is possible. It’s quite possible that CONCACAF will ensure that he will not take charge of a Costa Rica match again during this qualifying cycle, anything beyond 2014 though is still up in the air.
If anything: the biggest fail of the night for me was that Nike’s high visibility ball is yellow and not orange. After watching the match on TV after I got home and comparing it to my view from the American Outlaws section in the south end of the pitch (Yes I was down there braving the elements) I can honestly say it was hard to see the ball at times in the stands and not any better watching it on television. With Nike being involved in the sport for quite some time now you’d think they would have caught on by now.
Paul the biggest fail of this whole affair to me is the racist response from some US fans. It’s very upsetting and ridiculous.