Damion Downs scored in the sixth round of a shootout after three saves by Matt Freese, so that the United States (US) stood to the semi-final of the Concacaf Gold Cup with a 4-3 penalty shooter victory on Costa Rica after a 2-2 draw on Sunday evening.
The US went on to a Wednesday match-up in St. Louis against Guatemala, who made Canada Van Streek on penalties in the opener of the quarterfinals Doublehead.
«They showed a great character today,» said American coach Mauricio Pochettino.
Freese hit shooting attempts from Juan Pablo Vargas, Francisco Calvo and Andy Rojas.
«Sanctions are my thing,» Freese said. «During the plane ride here to Minnesota, I studied the penalties and I studied them all week.»
Mexico will play Honduras in the other semi -final in Santa Clara, California on Wednesday. The championship is in Houston on July 6.
The US has reached the semi-final in 17 of the 18 gold cups, including 13 straight ahead since a loss of a penalty kicks for Colombia in a quarterfinals of 2000.
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Diego Luna and Max Arfsten scored in regulation time for the US, which were confronted with the highest ranked opponent of the tournament in Costa Rica (54th) after breaking the group phase with an 8-1 target difference.
Alonso Martinez scored the draw for the Ticos in the 71st minute with a left shot after Carlos Mora de la Torre and Arsten split to make a shot at Freese and grab the rebound to set up Martinez.
Concacaf changed the rules for this edition of the biennial championship for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, which eliminates extra time except the championship game.
John Tolkin had the first chance to win the shootout for the American Keylor Navas, hit his attempt in the fifth round.
Freese then denied Rojas with a diving hand, climbing up as he nodded his head and extended his tongue to his cheering teammates in midfield. The winner set up by the 20-year-old Downs.
The tournament for the US are missing Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Gio Reyna, Antonee Robinson, Folarin Balogun and Sergiño Dest, due to a variety of reasons of injuries to rest as Club World Cup obligations.
The Ticos played without four important players. Forward Manfred Ugalde, who had three goals in the tournament, and midfielder Carlos Mora were suspended for accumulation of yellow card. Defender Ariel Lassiter (broken left hand) and forward Warren Madrigal (broken left leg) were sidelined by injuries.
Three of the six goals from Costa Rica during the group stage came through the penalty kick and Calvo added another one in the 12th minute after an error by Arsten. Calvo went low to zip the ball just out of the reach of a diving freese.
Malik Tillman kicked a pole for a 37th minute of penalty and Navas hit Arfsten’s attempt from the rebound.
Luna scored his first international goal in the 43rd minute by shooting a shot of defender Alexis Gamboa. Tillman made up for his miss in the beginning of the second half by poking a pass ahead for Arfsten, who rose from a wing to send the ball in the opposite corner for a 2-1 lead.
