SAN JOSE (COSTA RICA), March 31: Christian Pulisic walked across the field with a towel draped around his head, angry after another US defeat.
“We’re competitors, man. We hate to lose. In the moment I was frustrated,” he said. “It took me a little bit for it to sink in, that the qualification hit.”
Nearly 4 1/2 years after Pulisic buried his head in his hands to hide tears of failure, the US rebounded to qualify for this year’s World Cup. A 2-0 loss to Costa Rica on Wednesday left the Americans in third place after the final night of qualifying, the final guaranteed berth from North and Central America and the Caribbean.
For Pulisic, DeAndre Yedlin, Kellyn Acosta and Paul Arriola, smiles of relief broke out after an unrelenting burden was lifted. “This is whatever I’ve always wanted to be, and right now emotions are a bit crazy,” Pulisic said, his voice quavering.
On the 1,267th day after a 2-1 loss at Trinidad and Tobago ended the Americans’ streak of seven straight World Cup appearances, Yedlin addressed the team before the kickoff.
The US remained winless in 12 qualifiers at Costa Rica, with 10 defeats and two draws.
Juan Pablo Vargas got behind Walker Zimmerman and headed Brandon Aguilera’s corner kick past goalkeeper Zack Steffen in the 51st minute, and Anthony Contreras knocked in Jewison Bennette’s cross off a scramble in the 59th after Steffen palmed Aguilar’s free kick toward Contreras and blocked Contreras’ initial shot.
A sellout crowd of about 35,000 in National Stadium came to life with the goals, but the Americans’ 5-1 rout of Panama at home last weekend gave them a huge goal-difference margin over Costa Rica. That meant the US merely had to avoid losing by six goals or more in order to claim an automatic berth.
Canada, which had clinched its first World Cup trip since 1986 with a win Sunday, finished first in the group with 28 points after a 1-0 loss at Panama, ahead of Mexico on goal difference. El Tri clinched its eighth straight World Cup berth with a 2-0 home win over El Salvador, while the US (25 points) finished third with a plus-11 goal difference to plus-five for Costa Rica (also 25 points).
Ticos coach Luis Fernando Suárez didn’t include six starters from Sunday’s win at El Salvador who carried yellow cards, not wanting to risk a suspension for a June playoff against Oceania champion New Zealand.
As Berhalter spoke to his team, 24-year-old defender Erik-Palmer Brown popped open the first bottle of Duet Mosseux Brut, starting a brief bubbly and beer celebration before some players caught a charter flight to London. Berhalter headed with staff for a red-eye flight to New York and a connection for Qatar ahead of Friday’s draw.
US bench players walked onto the field at the final whistle and exchanged handshakes and hugs with their teammates.
The US finds out at Friday’s draw which three nations it will face in the group stage, which starts Nov. 21 at a tournament pushed back five months to avoid summer desert heat. A growing and increasingly hypercritical fan base is hoping to see Pulisic & Co. reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002.
Pulisic, the first American to play in and win a Champions League final, had been consumed with trying to lift the US back to a World Cup. The 23-year-od led the team with five of its 21 goals despite making just seven starts due to COVID-19, a sprained ankle and shaky form when he first came back from the injury. (AP)
