Neither the United States or Costa Rica has put together the best performances they’re capable of at the Gold Cup. But they’ve both done enough to avoid defeat in all four of their games, and they know the hard part of the tournament starts in the semifinal on Saturday.
United States vs. Costa Rica 2017: Start time, TV schedule for Gold Cup semifinal
Both the USMNT and Costa Rica know they need to start playing better on Saturday night.
Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images
Costa Rica created very little going forward against Panama in their quarterfinal, but went through thanks to an own goal. The USMNT started very slowly against El Salvador, but produced two moments of quality late in the second half to record a 2-0 victory.
A lot of eyes will be on Clint Dempsey, who is one goal away from tying the USMNT all-time scoring record. He had an assist against El Salvador, but only had one dangerous shot during the match. He’s the Americans’ big goal threat, and he’s stepped up in big games throughout his career.
Los Ticos’ backup goalkeeper Patrick Pemberton has performed very well in this tournament, deputizing for Keylor Navas. The Americans will have a tough time beating him, and the central defense pair of Kendall Waston and Giancarlo González should give them serious problems in both boxes.
Match date/time: Saturday, 10 p.m ET
Venue: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
TV: FS1 (U.S. - English), UniMas (U.S. - Spanish)
Online: Fox Sports Go, Fox Soccer Match Pass (U.S. - English), Univision Deportes en vivo (U.S. - Spanish)
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