USMNT complete January camp sweep with win over Costa Rica
23/01/2025 12:04
January camp success.
The U.S. men's national team closed out the first international window of the year on Wednesday night by playing party pooper to Miguel "Piojo" Herrera's Costa Rica managerial debut. Goals from Brian White, Caden Clark, and Patrick Agyemang led the Americans to a 3-0 victory in Orlando, Florida.
By rotating the starting lineup from Saturday's 3-1 triumph over Venezuela, Mauricio Pochettino ensured every outfield player on the roster got a chance to start. This affords each player an opportunity to impress the new boss while Pochettino gets a view of each of his options.
The rotation also led to January camp's first-time goal scorer trend continuing in the 21st minute as White netted his first international goal from a bloody-nosed Diego Luna assist.
"I was surprised because his nose was broken. I didn't want to say anything [or create] too much drama because he was bleeding,” Pochettino described the ordeal of Luna breaking his nose prior to the opening assist. “I said, ‘How do you feel?' He said 'Coach, please let me keep playing’…and the first action [was an] assist and we scored. I said, big balls!'”
Clark was up next in the second half, smashing home his first international goal in his second cap in the 78th minute provided by Emeka Eneli's ball-winning counter press and assist. The goal marked the fifth-straight USMNT goal scored by a first-time goal scorer for the first time since 1985-87.
Following his first goal at the weekend, Agyemang put the cherry on top of a dominant January with his second goal in as many caps. DeJuan Jones provided the assist with a beautiful trivela through-ball.
As he works to get back in the goalkeeping conversation, Zack Steffen came up with a couple of saves throughout the match to keep a clean sheet on his return between the national team sticks.
While many of these players likely won’t be in March’s CONCACAF Nations League squad, they should take plenty of confidence into the start of their club campaigns in MLS.
The USMNT will return to action in March where many of the expected European stars will be back among the fold.
