STL All Sports

With another win notched, the United States looks well on their way to achieving a spot in the 2006 world cup. The United States beat Costa Rica 3-0 on June 4, 2005.

In the match, Landon Donovan scored two goals and Kasey Keller made some fantastic saves.

In front of a 49,000 plus strong pro USA crowd in Salt Lake City, the United States never looked threatened.

Landon Donovan said about the crowd:

“I was saying yesterday, or Thursday, that they are very knowledgeable here. Even outside our hotel walking to the game today, there were probably 50 to 100 people clapping for us outside the elevators. They were just excited. As a soccer player, that’s where you want to play. You don’t want to play in front of 40,000 Costa Ricans. You want people there cheering for you. Everyone who came out today did a great job. They did their part today.”

Manager Bruce Arena said about the match:

“We needed to replace five starters from our qualifying game against Guatemala and I think this certainly tested our depth and I think when you look at the final score, it’s 3-0, I don’t think it’s a fair indication of the game. I think Kasey Keller’s play in the early part of the second half was the difference in the match.”

Mexico beat Guatemala to take a one point lead in the standings over the Americans.

Here are the standings:

Team       MP W D L GF GA Pts
Mexico      4 3 1 0  7 3  10
USA         4 3 0 1  8 3  9
Guatemala   4 1 1 2  5 5  4
Trinidad    4 1 1 2  4 7  4
Costa Rica  4 1 1 2  3 6  4
Panama      4 0 2 2  2 5  2