Guzan keeps clean sheet as United States thrash Costa Rica

In Friday’s Copa América opener against Colombia, the United States fell behind inside of 10 minutes.

But Tuesday night against Costa Rica, the Americans went ahead in the 10th minute on a Clint Dempsey goal from the spot — and they never looked back to thrash Costa Rica, 4-0.

All things considered, it was a pretty quiet night for goalkeeper Brad Guzan and the rest of the United States defense, especially after the Yanks carried a 3-0 lead into halftime. Guzan might have been beaten from a corner routine, when Bryan Ruíz headed onto the post in the 68th minute — though the assistant flagged for offside on the play — while another dicey moment came on a bit of nice attacking play when a cross inside the penalty area was just behind the Ticos attacker.

At the end of the day, the hometown kid had to make just two saves; a fairly easy one on Christian Bolaños after a quarter of an hour, and the other one in second half stoppage time, when he secured a Rándall Azofeifa shot with a diving stop.

It was a good day for Guzan and the Americans, who’ll go through to the next round with a win against Paraguay — they should go through with a draw, too, unless Costa Rica down Colombia 6-0 — but it was a better day for Carlos Sánchez’s Colombian side, who downed Paraguay 2-1 to secure advancement to the quarterfinals.

Sánchez got on for a handful of minutes against the United States on Friday, and we’ll wait and see if we see more of him Saturday with Colombia’s spot in the final eight confirmed.