3 big moments that hurt the USMNT against Costa Rica

The United States men’s national team dug itself a hole on Friday night. Thanks to a 2-0 defeat to Costa Rica, the Americans sit in third place in World Cup qualifying, level on points with Honduras and just one point ahead of Panama. The USMNT now has no room left for error.

It’s extremely rare for the USMNT to lose twice at home in the Hex, and it’s even more rare for it to lose by multiple goals at home. Head coach Bruce Arena was very dissatisfied with the performance, and was self-critical after the match too.

"We didn't make any plays that mattered. We were probably outplayed in most positions on the field and didn't capitalize on several opportunities,” said Arena, according to Ives Galarcep. “We didn't have a good night. I thought they outplayed us and outcoached us."

But by the numbers, the Americans weren’t bad. The USMNT had 61-percent possession on the night and 14 shots to Costa Rica’s nine. Most of the shots Los Ticos took were low-percentage ones too — the USMNT’s performance looks even better by Expected Goals.

This match was a case of a little bit of everything going wrong for the USMNT, despite it having the better of the play. Michael Ureña was clinical in front of goal, the USMNT’s finishing was poor, the referee made some bad calls, Arena’s risky tactics didn’t pay off, the American defenders made some individual errors, and U.S. Soccer did its team no favors by putting the game in a venue that hosted a 50-50 crowd.

At any point in the first 30 minutes, the USMNT could have taken full command of the match. There were three particular big moments where it should have done so, but didn’t.

Christian Pulisic shanks an ambitious shot instead of touching the ball to Bobby Wood

If Pulisic just touches the ball a couple of yards to his left — making the safest and simplest decision — the USMNT has a massive chance on this move. Instead...

...yikes.

Jozy Altidore deserved a penalty

How Kendall Waston gets away with this is anyone’s guess. Penalties don’t get much more clear than this. Waston barges into the back of Altidore and shoves him over. The referee has a great view, and so does his assistant.

Pulisic should have tested Keylor Navas a few seconds later

The missed call would have been forgotten if Pulisic capitalized on the follow-up play. Jorge Villafaña’s cross certainly wasn’t perfect, but you’d expect a player of Pulisic’s quality to make a bit more of this opportunity.

None of these are extremely clear, must-score opportunities for the United States. Half-chances and penalty calls get missed every game. But they are evidence that the USMNT did enough to create a goal in the opening half-hour, and that Arena’s risky tactics had an upside.

Arena sacrificed a midfielder for an extra attacking body in his lineup, often leaving Michael Bradley alone in defensive transition. While Darlington Nagbe was slotted into the lineup as a second midfielder in a 4-4-2, he ventured very far forward and offered little defensively — something Arena probably expected, rather than a failure on Nagbe’s part.

This setup led to the Americans getting bodies in the box with some serious frequency. If they’d scored from any of these three chances — or any of their other decent first half attacks — Arena would have looked smart for setting up his team the way he did. Then Costa Rica would have opened up, and the Americans would have had a lot of space to counter attack into.

Instead, the USMNT was eventually made to pay for its lack of muscle in midfield. While Tim Ream gets roasted on the Ureña opener and Tim Howard could have positioned himself better, the main culprit is a lack of bodies to put pressure on the ball. Bradley was left in no man’s land once the ball got into the center, and Los Ticos took advantage. Ureña had a low-percentage chance despite the poor defending, but he finished it perfectly.

And that’s how a decent performance turns into a terrible result. The Americans didn’t play that poorly, but a combination of factors led to arguably its worst World Cup qualifying loss in the professional era of the program. Now the Americans probably need seven points from their final three games to make the World Cup.