the US Defeated Costa Rica 3-0 on Wednesday to pick up two wins from two games for a loaded team Multilateral Players during the Americans’ annual January camp.
Vancouver Whitecaps attacker Brian White He opened the scoring for the United States with his victory Esteban Alvarado after Diego Luna He played it inside the area with a cutting through ball.
White, who turns 29 on February 3, became the oldest American to score his first international goal since 29-year-old Matt Besler in 2016.
Mauricio Pochettino’s team, fresh from victory over Venezuela In another friendly match on Saturday, he needed to make a big save Zach Steven End of the first half to maintain a 1-0 lead before the break.
Steven came up big for the USA again in the second half before Caden Clark and Patrick Agyemang He scored two great goals late in the game to seal the game.
“He played really well,” Pochettino said of Steven. “Some of the saves were amazing. He showed the quality he has as a goalkeeper.”
It was the second goal in as many games for Agyemang, who scored on his debut for the United States in a 3-0 win over Venezuela.
Delivered the previous result Mexico Coach Miguel Herrera suffered a loss in his first match since taking over as coach of Costa Rica.
Pochettino will lead a full-strength American side into action next March for the CONCACAF Nations League Finals, where the Americans will attempt to remain the only team to ever win the competition since its inception in 2019.
“Including unconventional players in the national team is very useful and provides new information about the real level of these players,” Pochettino said after the match.
“They are talented players, who have the ability to quickly understand and adapt to different ideas. I believe that in the future this will help us make better decisions and create a balanced team for future competitions.”
The United States will open play in the European Nations League on March 20 Panama At SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Europe-based players will be available to take part in the Nations League, one of six remaining training camps with Group A before players arrive ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Steven was among eight changes to the starting lineup after Saturday’s win and the defender Miles RobinsonOf the remaining three, he made his international debut as a right-back.
Central defenders Tim Ream and Walker Zimmerman They were added to the squad along with the left-back Dejuan JonesLuna, midfielder, winger Indiana Vasiliev And white. Ream and Zimmermann became the first non-goalie duo over the age of 30 to start since Ream and Michael Bradley in 2019.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this summary.
