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Minus all of its top European-based players outside of a FIFA international window, a young U.S. men’s national team beat a more experienced Costa Rica 1-0 in Carson, Calif., on Saturday. The standout player for the U.S. was 18-year-old winger Ulysses Llanez, who scored from the penalty spot on his national team debut.
Four months after Costa Rica’s previous coach, Gustavo Matosas, had quit his job by saying he was “bored,” several of the Tico players looked lethargic and bored on Saturday as well.
But that wasn’t the case for the majority of the Americans, who had the upper hand for the first third of the game possession-wise and got a deserved goal early in the second half after right back Reggie Cannon pushed up and earned a penalty after receiving a nice pass from Paul Arriola.