Leszek (Shek) Borkowski

Despite beating Costa Rica 3-0, USA suffered from having too big a distance from their central midfielders, Lloyd and Boxx (later Lindsey), to their strikers. Wambach and Cheney too often had to work their opportunities in isolation and that made life easier for Costa Rica. When playing 4-4-2, as USA did, you need either progression down the flanks or someone breaking forward through the middle. The Lloyd-Boxx partnership lacked energy and speed to break and cause damage. With Lindsey, who likes to come inside, playing on the left and O’Reilly on the right USA did not have a natural winger, and Lloyd/Boxx in particular needed to offer more support to the front players. Both were very quiet. It was fairly comfortable for Costa Rica midfielders, who were not forced back and could cover the areas in front of their central defenders. Defensively USA were left far too open, allowed Costa Rica time and space in midfield and a fair scoreline would have been about 3-1. Regardless of missing some key players and winning 3-0, USA showed a surprising lack of cohesion and basic errors were compounded by poor individual decisions. Pia Sundhage has much to do in a short time to prepare for Italy.