Matt Freese lifts USMNT into Gold Cup semis, outduels Keylor Navas on PKs | OneFootball

Matt Freese saved Juan Vargas, Francisco Calvo and Andy Rojas to outduel the legendary Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas in a penalty kick tiebreak and lift the United States into the Concacaf Gold Cup semifinals with a 4-3 victory on six penalties following a 2-2 draw at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Damion Downes converted the final spot kick for the Americans, who saw Sebastian Berhalter miss high and John Toklin denied by Navas with the Americans’ fifth kick.

But New York City FC’s Freese dove right to deny Rojas in the first extra kick, after he had lunged left to thwart Vargas and stood his ground in the middle of the goal to stop Calvo. Downs then converted to the left beyond Vargas’ dive to ensure the Americans weren’t the latest favorite to go out on kicks at the quarterfinal stage after Panama and Canada both lost penalty tiebreakers.

Manager Maurico Pochettino’s squad will face Guatemala on Wednesday in St. Louis after they shocked 10-man Canada on penalties in Sunday’s earlier semifinal, which finished a 1-1 draw over 90 minutes.

They played a game first, you know

Real Salt Lake’s Diego Luna scored just before halftime and the Columbus Crew’s Max Arfsten scored just after for the Americans, who entered the tournament without several of their more recognizable stars.

That included players like Christian Pulisic, Antonee Robinson and Sergino Dest, who were absent for injury and/or recovery reasons, as well as Juventus duo Weston McKennie and Tim Weah, who are competing at the FIFA Club World Cup.

New York City FC striker Alonso Martinez scored in the 71st minutes to pull the Ticos level after the former Minnesota United fullback Calvo gave the early lead to a Costa Rica side that also came in with lower expectations amid a generational turnover.

Bryan Ruiz, Joel Campbell and Celso Borges are no longer within the Central American squad that had long held the mantle of “best of the rest” in Concacaf. The 38-year-old Navas was the lone familiar face left from that squad, and he was still exceptional when required in regulation, most notably sprawling to his right to deny Chris Richards’ 50th-minute header that would’ve put the match out of reach.

Martinez' leveler came squarely against the run of play and turned what appeared to be a comfortable U.S. win into a frenetic final phas.

Carlos Mora created it with a sensational, slaloming run into the box from the right where he first split two defenders, then hammered a low shot with pace that Freese couldn’t handle.

Mora was first to the rebound and slotted a square ball to Martinez, who guided in a first-time finish from just beyond the 6-yard box.

Is there a lesson in there?

It was a goal that followed a dominant, at times even stylish period of play from the Americans, who appeared to be heading comfortably to the next round.

But perhaps that was also the inexperience of the group showing through in how it defended its own box in a one-goal match. You could say the same thing about Max Arfsten’s clumsy first-half challenge that led to Francisco Calvo’s 18th-minute penalty to open the scoring.

The best period of American play came right when it appeared the real adversity had hit, when Malik Tillman had a chance to level from the spot later in the first half, only to strike the woodwork in the 37th minute.

Only six minutes later, Luna pulled the United States level from open play, and then two minutes into the second half, Arfsten coolly slotted home a finish from the right side of the box after Tillman’s deceptively good setup.

Costa Rica closed regulation as the stronger side after pulling level, and Martinez must have thought he’d lifted his side to a historic result when he struck a pure, right-footed effort from the edge of the box that left Freese rooted to the ground.

They both watched as it impacted the inside of the right post, catching just enough paint to rebound into the field of play rather than caroming across the line.