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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.