US edge Costa Rica, Cuba also through

Reuters/Hartford (Connecticut)

After easy wins over the other two group opponents, the United States were tested for the first time by Costa Rica in a rematch of their snowy 2014 World Cup qualifier in March, which the Americans also won 1-0.

Roared on by the home crowd at Rentschler Field in Connecticut, the United States were in control for most of the match and got the breakthrough in the 82nd minute when Landon Donovan found Brek Shea through the middle and he completed a nice left-footed finish.

Costa Rica finished the group in second place on six points and will meet Honduras in the quarter-finals, while the United States face El Salvador.

In the 82nd minute, Johnson made a remarkable fingertip save when Costa Rica’s Alvaro Saborio fired a header off of a corner kick.

The USA picked up the rebound and Landon Donovan guided the counterattack that led to Shea finding himself with a clear path to the net.

The Stoke City midfielder, who is coming off a tough stretch during his young career, had a nice first touch before sliding the ball past keeper Patrick Pemberton.

“It was a game that we pushed towards the end to win it,” said US coach Klinsmann. “We could have taken it easy, we could have said, ‘You know what? We are first anyway in the group. And a tie is fine.’ But a tie is not fine with us. So the team pushed and they grinded it out until the last minute

The United States were the only team to go through the group stage with three straight wins and are trying to win the Gold Cup for the first time since 2007 after enduring back-to-back defeats to Mexico in the 2009 and 2011 finals.

In the earlier Group C match, Jenier Marquez scored in stoppage time to seal Cuba’s place in the quarter-finals with a 4-0 win over Belize.

Ariel Martinez had a hat-trick for Cuba but it was Marquez’s last-gasp goal that took them through to the last eight of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football regional tournament.

The Cubans needed to win by at least four goals to advance as one of the two best third-place teams in the competition.

Cuba led 1-0 at halftime after Martinez opened the scoring on 37 minutes then 2-0 midway through the second when the striker added a second.

There were just seven minutes left when the 27-year-old Martinez finished off his hat-trick.

The match was into injury time when veteran defender Marquez scored the crucial goal, enabling Cuba to leapfrog Martinique, who finished third in Group B, into Saturday’s quarter-finals against Panama.

Mexico face Trinidad and Tobago in the last eight’s other game.