FOXBORO, Massachusetts, 14 July 2005 — The United States drew 0-0 with Costa Rica Tuesday to take first place in its group in the opening round of the CONCACAF Gold Cup despite failing to win for the first time in 19 first-round matches since 1991.
The Americans and Costa Ricans finished the round-robin with seven points, but the US team gets the easier quarterfinal match-up for scoring six goals and allowing just one; Costa Rica scored four goals against one allowed. The Americans will play again at Gillette Stadium on Saturday against a third-place team to be determined.
In addition to the blemish on its perfect record, the US team lost Frankie Hejduk for the quarterfinals when he was given a yellow card in the 87th minute for taking a dive. The Columbus Crew defender also was booked in the first match, against Cuba.
The play matched a similar one at the other end, when Christian Bolanos went down after incidental contact with Jimmy Conrad and was carded by referee Armando Archundia.
Meanwhile, Atiba Hutchinson and Ali Gerba scored second-half goals to lead Canada past Cuba 2-1 in another match of the night, but the Canadians were all but eliminated in the first round of the tournament for the second straight time.
Needing to beat Cuba by three goals for a realistic chance to reach the quarterfinals, Hutchinson put Canada up 2-0 in the 87th minute with an unassisted goal. But Cuba’s Alain Cervantes dashed the Canadians’ hopes with a goal in stoppage time. Canada still has the slimmest of hopes to advance to the quarterfinals, needing Jamaica to beat Mexico by six goals.
Colombia beat Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 Tuesday.
Only the top two third-place finishers qualify for the quarterfinals. Had Canada beaten Cuba 3-0, and Mexico not lost by six to Jamaica, a coin toss would have determined the final quarterfinals entrant.
