And finally, after losing to Canada on penalty kicks in the semifinal of the 2010 Under-17 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying, the US found itself playing for third place, in a rematch with Costa Rica. The US had been the victor in the group match, 10-0.
This would be a largely meaningless match, for placement only. Only the two teams in the final – Canada and Mexico – would go to the World Cup. But, given these two teams, it probably held more meaning than it otherwise would: the superpower US playing to show that the loss to Canada was just a fluke, and Costa Rica playing for home pride, to show that they couldn’t be embarrassed three times in a row in their own stadium.
Fox Soccer Channel, which had broadcast all the US matches up to this point, had only committed to showing the final, not the 3rd place match – pretty much a sure bet in CONCACAF, up until 2010. As a result, they ended up broadcasting a soccer game between Canadian and Mexican teenage girls – credit to them for not preempting it! This 3rd place game, with the US, was not broadcast; it could only be seen live on CONCACAF.com.
The full match can be seen now on the archives at concacaf.com. Or, the highlights on YouTube.
Starters and Finishers
The US was back to the core starters again, with a few exceptions: Cari Roccaro started at right back; Isabel Farrell at left midfield (with Kaili Torres again on the right, as Roccaro was in the back line); unusually, Olivia Brannon on the left side of the defense (she had played only right back before in her three previous matches); and, finally and most significantly, Caroline Stanley started in goal – her one and only match.
With Stanley starting, this would mean that every US player – all 20 of them – would play in the tournament. 17 of them would start in at least one of the five matches. This was a deep squad, at every position (except, perhaps, at forward, but I’ve covered that speculation in previous posts).
By the way, the match info on concacaf.com is incorrect: there was apparently confusion between #18 Maria Jose Rodriguez (a goalkeeper), who did not play in this match, and #11 Raquel Rodriguez Cedeño (a forward), who did play. So, no, Costa Rica did not play this match with two goalkeepers on the field. This error ripples out into the rest of the Costa Rica stats: Maria Jose Rodriguez did not play in this tournament at all, despite her one one game credit, while Cedeño played in 4 of the 5 games, not just 3.
Also back was the referee from the group games, Lucila Venegas, who had overseen the US matches against Cayman Islands and Costa Rica (the first time). Notable before was her insistence on proper throw-ins, much to the befuddlement of both the Americans and their opponents (but mainly the Americans, really). It would not be long before this little gremlin popped up again.
From the opening whistle, it was clear there this match was not just unlike the semifinal against Canada, but wasn’t quite like the previous match with Costa Rica, either. The energy, the urgency and tension, wasn’t there this time. While Costa Rica had a bit more a go-for-broke attitude, they also had a better understanding of how the US played, how fast they were, what kind of runs they made, who the playmakers were, etc. The excitement might be gone, but the desire to win never left.
3′: Olivia Brannon was first whistled for a bad throw-in, and subsequently, the Costa Rican player was whistled for her throw-in. Kaili Torres would then take the third throw-in, and would make an exaggerated pantomime of it, but the referee apparently didn’t pick up on the sarcasm and let it go. Play resumed at last.
5′: The first goal for the US – the team was back to form. Although, to be fair, as you can see in the highlights (0:19) it was largely due to a bad defensive error. It started with Olivia Brannon (reminder: she was the left back in this match) with the ball and a lot of space in the Costa Rican half. She played it in to Horan, who was checking back from the defensive line around the 18-yard box; at the penalty arc, she stuck her foot out and attempted a one-touch chip over the back line and into the box, but it spun down right at a defender. The ball came at the Tica a little awkwardly, but she should have been able to clear it out. Instead, it fell into the box, where Kaysie Clark was running onto it, now alone with the keeper. The keeper, Fabiola Murillo, was late to react (no doubt expecting her defender to get a boot on it), but to her credit she came out fast and hard with Clark in front of her. But Clark was able to settle it, and put a shot over Marillo’s outstretched legs and into the left corner.
(You can see in the reactions that there was almost no celebration. Kaysie Clark is not the most demonstrative player to begin with – she seems like a put-your-head-down-and-get-it-done kind of person – but I think it shows several things: one, the US expects to score, in any situation; two, it’s more relief than happiness (the goals are back!); and three… there’s just not much to celebrate here. A lucky bounce and poor defending in a meaningless game.)
This early turn of the game, and how it occurred, points out the difference between this and the semifinal: apart from the first 20 minutes or so of that match, Canada did everything it needed to, and made no large errors. (And, it must be said, got lucky when did make mistakes early on.) Here, five minutes in: one missed clearance and Costa Rica was already a goal behind.
The US players were good at keeping and delivering the ball, true; but, more effectively, they were almost always able to react to any given situation. If there was a loose ball, there was a player there to pounce on it; a clearance to midfield, there was a player to corral it and send it back in. Every deflection and rebound seemed to end up at the foot or head of an American.
Some of this was luck, of course, as it always is. But more than nearly any team I’ve seen – certainly more than any US team I’ve seen manage for more than one match at a time – it was because there was no ball-watching. The entire team moved with the ball, shifting and flowing to create or fill space as needed.
What Canada had been able to do – to their great credit – was out-react the US, getting to the ball first often enough to break up any kind of rhythm the US may have built. And, of course, they tackled aggressively, which made US players think twice before any physical contact, further slowing reactions.
Costa Rica, try as they may, couldn’t manage the speed of play required to out-react the US, and was not a physical team, given to hard tackles.
They did have their own qualities: an emphasis on possession and building attacks through the midfield. And while they didn’t get many chances to show these skills off against the US, it did bring several good chances for the Ticas.
Around the 13th minute, Clark received a ball from Brannon, turned and shot from about 25 yards out, directed right to the upper left corner, but just pushed wide by the diving keeper. A great shot and a great save; credit to both. But a trend was revealed: Taylor Smith wasn’t touching the ball much, and wasn’t able to do much with it when she did, while her partner up top, Lindsey Horan, was spending more time checking back into the midfield than on the front line – and when she did get the ball, she was looking to pass rather than turning to goal, despite very low or no pressure from the Costa Rican defenders. In fact, Costa Rica did not challenge her they way they did the smaller players, instead standing off and waiting to play the ball when she released it. Horan, in the beginning of the match anyway, obliged them by often playing off quickly to her sides, when a turn on goal would have been met with little or no resistance. The ghosts of Canadian defenders still weighed on her.
In contrast, Kaysie Clark, the attacking midfielder, and Izzy Farrell, the left midfielder, were both pounding on the goal like it was still overtime against Canada and the tournament could be salvaged.
For several minutes, from about 24′ on, this little drama played out. E.g., Clark received the ball coming back into the midfield, three Ticas converged on her, but she beat them, turned and slipped a pass into the box for Smith, who crossed to Horan… but Horan was caught up and the ball cleared out. Less than a minute later, Torres sent a cross in from the right to the far post, but Smith’s volley was high over the bar.
And less than a minute after that, Clark and Farrell combined for a nifty sequence; Clark got the ball and immediately turned to goal, then laid it out wide to Farrell, who beat her defender and gave it back to Clark, now in the box. Clark then looked for Smith… who lost the ball, and it was cleared out again.
While the forwards weren’t in the game quite yet, the rest of the team was humming along: no hopeful long balls, just short connecting passes through the middle of the defense or around the flanks. Along with the attacking midfielders, the defensive mid Clarissa Wedemeyer was winning every ball that fall in the middle, and feeding it back into Brian and Clark like a pinball machine. But the strikers wouldn’t be out of sync forever.
In minute 30, Costa Rica had its first good chance. From a turnover off Smith up top, Costa Rica passed the ball through the midfield before launching it toward the US left corner, Olivia Brannon and Maria Moreira sprinting after it until they converged shoulder to shoulder. A funny hop from the ball, an awkward move from Brannon, and Moreira was running at the goal, just the keeper in net and Dahlkemper waiting in the penalty area, trying to cover both the direct attack and a possible cross to a trailing Costa Rican. Moreira, either too eager or expecting no other options, shot it from just outside the box, an easy save for Stanley as it sailed right into her gloves.
The US would get second goal in 37′, from right midfielder Kaili Torres. Dahlkemper, well into Costa Rica’s side of the field, played the ball out to Farrell on the right side, who dribbled it right down the endline before crossing in to Smith. But she was facing away from goal with defenders behind her, so she passed to Brian, who turned and fired into the mass of Ticas standing in the way. The ball was deflected up and toward the far post, where Torres muscled her way in front of her defender and knocked it in from the 6-yard line. More poor defending from Costa Rica, admittedly, but also tenacious play from the US; wherever that ball fell anywhere in the Costa Rican’s own third, most likely a white jersey would get there first.
Two goals from two midfielders, and three minutes later, a defender would make it 3-0. A Costa Rican player was down after goal #2, so the kick-off wasn’t until minute 40. Olivia Brannon on the left had the ball almost immediately, and she played it to Brian, who passed it out to Roccaro on the right; Roccaro in to Clark; Clark took it into a corner, then lay it back to Torres, who crossed it into the box, but no one connected. It bounced through and Farrell chased it to the left edge; she played it back up the line to Brannon, who touched it inside and then snuck a shot into the upper left corner from more than 25 yards out. The defenders scrambled to get in front of her, but the keeper seemed surprised; after watching the US pass the ball around their half of the field, she didn’t expect a shot from that far out. (In fact, this would be the longest-range goal for the US in the tourament; maybe 5 of their 36 goals came from more than 20 yards out.)
(I should note that Horan is credited with an assist on the first goal, and, indeed, it would not have happened without her. But while she would also gets a credit on the second goal (from US Soccer, anyway), I don’t think she even touched the ball on that one. In fairness, the defender who did touch it would not have been there, and would have not have played the ball as she did, without Horan standing just outside the 6-yard box, so if the credit doesn’t go to Brian – who took the shot that deflected to Torres – then I suppose Horan would be the next candidate.)
Unlike the first two goals, this one got a reaction, both from the goalscorer and the local commentators. It’s not included in the highlights, but replays showed Brannon jumping up and pumping her fist in the air as the commentators raved about her golazo. She had had an assist in the previous Costa Rica match, but this was her one goal of the tournament, and she was going to celebrate it.
But she wasn’t finished playing; just as the first half came to an end, Brannon got another shot off from a very similiar position. But the Costa Rican keeper wasn’t going to be beaten a second time, and blocked it out for a defender to clear.
Second Half (or; So That’s What Defensive Midfielders Do)
At the half, US head coach Kazbek Tambi would make just one substitution, but this single change would have far-reaching effects. Out came Clarissa Wedemeyer, in came Alex Doll. Doll would take over the left midfield spot, pushing Izzy Farrell up top as a third forward. Or perhaps, one of 2-1/2 forwards, with Horan acting almost more as a midfielder most of the time. With the dedicated withdrawn midfielder out, the center mid, Morgan Brian would have to fill that role.
This ramifications of these changes would not be immediately obvious, but when they were, Costa Rica would take advantage.
But first… the US forwards would continue their snake-bit ways.
In the first minute after the opening whistle, Cari Roccaro – nominally the right fullback – worked the ball up to about 30 yards away from goal before she was challenged, at which point she crossed it in to Taylor Smith at the penalty arc. Smith was immediately pressed by two defenders, but got past them by somehow flicking to herself ; two short volleys and then she was in front of goal. As she shot, though – with the goalkeeper rushing out to cut the angle – one of the defenders tangled legs with Smith, and the US forward went down hard, her weak shot sneaking under the keeper but rolling into the post. Costa Rica then cleared the rebound.
Horan can be seen raising her arms at the apparent foul, to no avail. Also with a possible claim: Alex Doll, who was in the 18-yard box when Smith made her run, and was bowled over from behind by a defender trying to get in front of Smith.
But these are hardly the most egregious non-calls from the referees, and in any case, the US was already winning 3-0, so… tough luck!
Five minutes later, Horan would be more directly involved. Smith had a nice run at the defense, getting past several Ticas before feeding a ball into the box for Horan. Angling away from goal, Horan chased it down and got a shot off just as the keeper reached it and followed through into the forward herself, the two going down in heap. Horan’s shot bounced off the keeper’s knees and landed - serendipitously - in front of Smith about 7 yards from goal. Her shot, predictably, was over the crossbar.
Finishing was just not in the cards for the US forwards. Not yet, anyway.
Immediately after this, Costa Rica discovered the hole in the US midfield. Morgan Brian had not had to adjust much in the opening minutes of the second half; the US was possessing easily enough in the Costa Rican defensive third. But the goal kick after the last US attempt exposed the weakness. With Wedemeyer out, either Brian would have track back to fill that space, the center back Dahlkemper would have to step up, or one of the wide mids would have to move inside. This was not something any of them had had to do in any previous match; the smoothly spinning wheel of the US defense had lost it’s axle, but for the moment was still spinning in place.
After the goalkick, however, they found themselves chasing the ball back toward their own goal. Costa Rica even had numbers up, with four players against the disjointed US defense: Dahlkemper alone was between the ball and her net, stepping up to force a play, while Roccaro, the left fullback, chased the ball down the middle of the field; Torres, the right mid, tracked a Tica down the right side; and Doll, the left mid, had a Costa Rican on either shoulder as she ran back down the left side. The left fullback Brannon, and Brian, both trailed along behind. Half the team was out of position, but this was the first time in five matches that anyone could take advantage of it.
The Tica with the ball was Raquel Rodriguez Cedeño, star forward, tied with Maria Moreira as top scorer on the team with 3 goals apiece. Roccaro came up on her left side, and convincing her to angle to the right. This slowed her enough for Roccaro to pass and get in front of her; now with two US bodies between her and the net, she took a shot from 20 yards out. Wide right. She couldn’t have played it to her teammate coming in on her right, since she was offside, and she couldn’t play it back to her left, but a shot from there was unlikely to ever worry Stanley in goal.
Three minutes later, the US would score their fourth goal, a rare one off a set play. This one a free kick, earned when Kaysie Clark was fouled at the penalty arc, just to the right of center; close enough for Morgan Brian to try a direct shot. Five Ticas lined up in the wall, covering the right side. Morgan took a right-footed shot right over the middle of the wall and at the keeper, but there was enough on it that Murillo could only block it. The ball fell in front of her, and she couldn’t keep her feet, making it easy for Horan to sneak it and knock it in a goal.
Even something as ordinary as this, the U-17s showed an attention to the fundamentals often lacking in the older teams: always follow the ball in on free kick and penalty kicks. You never know what’s going to happen in the box. Horan was pretty diligent about this, and was rewarded this time with her first and only goal of the match (she would end the tournament with a total of 9 goals in 5 matches).
Several minutes later though, the gap in the midfield was exposed again. Brian had ventured into the Costa Rican defensive third and lost the ball. A Costa Rican took possession and took off with it; her next stop: US center back Abby Dahlkemper, on the other end of the field. Again, however, she was shut down with little danger to the US. With some confidence, and an eye open for teammates, more could have come from any of these chances.
60′ was notable for one thing: Isabel Farrell lost the ball in the Costa Rican end, and in trying to win it back, committed a foul deemed harsh enough by the referee to draw a yellow card. This was the only card of the match, but was Farrell’s second of the tournament – she was the only US player to draw a card at all.
In the next 8 minutes after, Costa Rica would have a few more chances, but the US wide midfielders were learning to step inside to fill that void, and Brian was no longer pushing alone as far up. The gap remained, but it had narrowed on Costa Rica.
But while they had adjusted, the effect on the US was as if they were a player down; there were still 11 American’s on the field, but now half of them were covering for an absent Wedemeyer, pulling everyone in toward the center instead of the where they had grown comfortable.
68′: Farrell makes up for her yellow card with a goal of her own, her third (and final) of the tournament. The US Soccer match report credits Dahlkemper with the assist, but this is incorrect. The play did start with Dahlkemper in back, trying several long passes into the US attacking midfield area, but getting the ball back under pressure. Finally, Farrell tracked back and received the ball from her, then fed it out to Brannon on the US left side (Brannon was nominally the left fullback, here lurking further upfield than Farrell herself). Brannon moved toward goal, but two Costa Rican defenders were waiting in front of her, so she played it back inside to Farrell, who then went immediately to goal. One Tica stepped up and tried to tackle, but Farrell stepped over it and kept going; several other defenders were in positions to challenged, but failed to do so. When she got to within 21 yard range, she let fly with a long arcing shot to the far upper corner, over the keeper’s diving hands. A very nice goal (and an uncredited assist to Olivia Brannon). US 5, Costa Rica 0.
A few minutes, Kaili Torres would have a go at a long-range shot, this one from more than 30 yards out (!), but it went just over the bar. That may have been the longest-range shot the US attempted, although it was not the longest from other teams; Mexico scored several from further, one of which – the top goal of the tournament (as determined by CONCACAF) – looked to be at least 40 yards out.
In 69′, Horan was subbed out; Havana Solaun was her replacement (a familiar pattern: she was a late sub in every match save for the one she started). While she wouldn’t get a goal or an assist to her credit in this match, she continued to show superior ball-handling skills, especially given her size (listed as 5′-9″, but seems to be taller). And craftiness; more than once she was double- or triple-teamed at the endline or sideline, and was able to get herself out of it and get a cross or pass off.
77′: Laura Liedle subbed in for Roccaro at left back. This was Liedle’s second match; she started against Cayman Islands, but did not see time in any other match.
81′: US goal number 6; mercifully, their final goal. Solaun earned a corner kick – Costa Rican defender Fabiola Sanchez tried to shield the ball over the endline, but Solaun’s pressure caused her to trip up and touch the ball out herself. Torres sent a right-footed outswinger into the box, where Morgan Brian got her head on it, but directly it wide of the near post. Fortunately, Taylor Smith was in the way, and in trying to get out of the way, deflected the ball off her head and inside the post (the US players were amused by this as they walked back to midfield for the kickoff, but were respectful enough not to laugh.) Morgan is credited by USSF with the goal, regardless.
The next minute, Costa Rica would have its final chance of the match with a free kick just on their own side of the center line. Tica captain Fabiola Sanchez pushed all her teammates into the US end (except the keeper), and sent a long ball into the box. It pinged around for several seconds before ending up in Caroline Stanley’s gloves. Costa Rica’s last chance, now gone.
87′: one last chance for the United States, and it was a close one. Solaun, with her back to goal on the left side, played the ball out wide to a rushing Isabel Farrell, who took it into the corner before cutting it back to Solaun. She turned toward goal, took a couple of touches to evade defenders, and snapped a quick shot off to the far post. It hit the frame but bounced to Kaysie Clark, who tried to settle the ball and shoot it from there, but the ball popped up on her, and she sent it over the crossbar.
In the 90th minute, as if to end it early, the field lights again went out (this had happened in the group match with Costa Rica as well). Play was whistled dead and the players again waited for the lights to return. But it was still fairly light out – it was just before 6pm, at the end of March – and the match was nearly over anyway. Finally, it was decided to play it out rather than wait for the lights to come back on.
Play was resumed with a drop ball, not an unusual occurrence in itself, but since play had not stopped out of any injury concern for either side, this drop ball was contested. Doll stood in for the US, and the ball was quickly back in US possession, but Costa Rica was content to merely keep the US out of the their half of the field, while the US was content to pass around the back until time ran out. The light fading, the US backline passed it back and forth between them: centerback to left, back to center, to right, and back to center again. Torres on the right sideline would occasional come back deep enough to receive the ball from Liedle, but Costa Rica made sure she was covered, and she would pass the ball back, and around it would go again.
Finally, the referee had had enough, and blew her whistle. Final result: US 6-0 Costa Rica.
Summary
The USA would finish with a final record of 38 goals fielded, and 0 allowed. The entire rest of the field combined – all 7 teams – managed a total of 35 goals. Even the two World Cup qualifiers, Canada (7-3) and Mexico (13-1), totaled just 20 goals, and allowed a surprising 4 goals.
In the end, the U-17s had played better than their big sisters had just months before, and against similar opponents. Yet, they would not be going to the World Cup that year, while the U-20s would get that chance. And while those U-20s would flame out in the quarterfinals in Germany, in what would be the worst showing for a US women’s team in a World Cup, the U-17s got saddled with the distinction of not even qualifying at all.
But since they didn’t go to the World Cup, most people did not see them compete at all. All that is known of them is that they failed to qualify, and with the U-20s and senior teams struggling, attention has finally been brought to bear on the US women’s soccer development.
I hope that’s not their only legacy, especially since I believe they were an example of good development, both of individual skill and team tactics. It would be a shame and a waste if one loss was used as an excuse to throw out what worked here.
