The U.S. women’s national team would’ve been heavily favored against Costa Rica on Thursday evening no matter the circumstances, but the Ticas essentially conceded the CONCACAF W Championship semifinal before it even started.
It wasn’t necessarily a terrible strategy from Costa Rica boss Amelia Valverde, but it did take a lot of the mystery, and fun, out of a game that theoretically should have been a major occasion.
In his press conference ahead of the match, USWNT boss Vlatko Andonovski spotlighted four Ticas players his team needed to deal with: Raquel Rodríguez, Melissa Herrera, Shirley Cruz, and María Paula Salas.
Three of those players were benched. Cruz, who hadn’t started in the tournament before Thursday, was the only exception. Valverde even benched goalkeeper Daniela Solera, who started all three group-stage games.
Valverde essentially punted on the semifinal, assuming her side would’ve lost to the USWNT anyway, and saved some of her stars for the third-place game and an alternative route to Olympic qualification.
Given the USWNT has won all 16 games against Costa Rica all time, scoring 87 and conceding two, Valverde may not have been wrong to punt on Thursday’s game. But it did give it an air of inevitability as a sparse crowd in Monterrey watched the USWNT win 3-0.
Despite a temperature hovering in the 90s all game, the USWNT pressed hard in the first half, and was rewarded particularly on Mallory Pugh’s goal, which followed a forced turnover and eye-catching backheel by Rose Lavelle.
MALLORY PUGH MAKES IT TWO JUST BEFORE THE HALF 🔥
That backheel from Rose Lavelle though 👀 pic.twitter.com/hhlJNCdXtz
— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) July 15, 2022
With a two-goal lead going into halftime, the USWNT was able to ease off in the second half as it looks ahead to Monday’s final against either Jamaica or Canada.
The winner of this tournament automatically reaches the 2024 Olympics, while the loser of the final will face the winner of the third-place game for a second CONCACAF berth in Paris.
Costa Rica can now aim its focus on that third-place game. In truth, its focus was already on that game before Thursday’s game even started.
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