USA, Costa Rica start stong in final push for World Cup 2010

Michael Bradley’s brace of goals lifted the United States to a 2-0 victory over Mexico, while Andy Furtado struck twice for Costa Rica in a 2-0 World Cup 2010 qualifying win over Honduras on Wednesday.

El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago played to a 2-2 draw in the remaining match on the slate as the six-nation final phase of qualifying for the North and Central America and Caribbean region got underway.

In Columbus, Bradley opened the scoring in the 43rd minute and added another goal in the 90th – after Mexico had been reduced to 10 men with the sending off of Rafael Marquez in the 65th minute.

Bradley gave the hosts the lead late in the first half after a corner kick by DaMarcus Beasley found Landon Donovan at the far post.

Donovan headed the ball back acoss the goal mouth, and while Oguchi Onyewu’s header was denied by Oswaldo Sanchez the rebound fell at the feet of Bradley.

“These are special games, they?re fun games to play in,” Bradley said. “As a player, these are the games we want to play in. In the locker room before the game, we looked at every guy and knew we were ready to play.”

Pushing for an equalizer, Mexico’s aggressive play resulted in a red card in the 65th when Marquez was sent off after kicking US goalkeeper Tim Howard in the right thigh during a rough challenge.

The expulsion came in the aftermath of Mexico’s best scoring chance of the match.

Pavel Pardo sent a free kick from the center of the field into the penalty area where a touch from Giovani Dos Santos set up Fausto Pinto on the left side of the box.

Pinto slid a dangerous shot past an open goal that was somehow missed at the far post for an easy tap-in by Dos Santos, and as the ball was played back into the area Howard jumped to collect it before he was spiked by Marquez.

“It was a 50-50 ball and he came in a little bit late and, you know, those kind of things happen in these type of games,” Howard said of Marquez. “I respect him a lot as a player and there are no hard feelings, that’s for sure.”

With the extra man and the lead, the US played conservatively the rest of the way.

Bradley punctuated the victory with a goal in injury time, collecting a pass from Donovan and firing a low shot from the top of the area past Sanchez.

In San Jose, Furtado scored twice in the space of 11 minutes – in the 48th and 59th – to lift Costa Rica to a 2-0 victory.

After a scoreless first half, Furtado opened Costa Rica’s account by heading a free kick from the right by Celso Borges past goalkeeper Noel Valladares.

Furtado struck again 11 minutes later, receiving another ball from the right and unleashing a blistering shot.

In San Salvador, two goals from Osael Romero in the 79th and 90th earned the draw for the hosts after Trinidad and Tobago took a 2-0 lead in the first half.

Carlos Edwards opened the scoring for the visitors in the seventh minute, firing a shot from outside the area that eluded goalkeeper Juan Jose Gomez.

Veteran Dwight Yorke doubled the margin in the 27th, converting a penalty resulting from Luis Hernandez’s foul on Stern John.

El Salvador’s attempts to pull back were frustrated by Trinidad keeper Clayton Ince until the 79th, when Romero scored from a free kick from just outside the area.

Romero stamped himself the hero for the hosts with his equaliser in injury time.

The United States and Costa Rica finished the night with three points apiece, followed by El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago with one.

The top three teams from the final “hexagonal” round will advance directly to the World Cup finals in South Africa, while the fourth-placed team will play off for a berth against the fifth-placed team from South America.

The next matches are on March 28, when Trinidad and Tobago host Honduras, Mexico host Costa Rica and El Salvador host the United States.