U.S. Blocks Costa Rica’s Shot at a Tie : Penalty Kick Stopped by Vanole as Americans Get 1-0 Victory in Soccer

Normally, when an offensive player goes man-to-man against the goalkeeper on a penalty kick, the attacker has the advantage. After all, he knows the move he is going to make, and the goalkeeper does not.

But there was little that was normal about Sunday’s World Cup qualifying match between the United States and Costa Rica, except for the outcome. The home team won in a low-scoring game, 1-0.

The U.S. victory was preserved when its goalkeeper, David (Dino) Vanole of Manhattan Beach, used his intuition, as well as his 6-foot-5, 235-pound body, to stop a penalty kick by Costa Rica’s Roger Flores that would have tied the score, spoiled a noteworthy defensive effort and seriously damaged the United States’ chances of advancing to the 1990 World Cup at Italy.

Vanole’s save seemed even more dramatic than it actually was because there was no time remaining on the scoreboard clock at the suburban St. Louis Soccer Park.

With the ball tucked safely under his arm, he began celebrating, as did many of the 8,500 fans who filled the quaint stadium to capacity, only to discover that there were still about two minutes remaining on the official clock that is kept on the field. Fortunately for Vanole and his teammates, the final moments were anti-climactic.

“I’ve got to work on my composure,” he said.

But Vanole, who did not learn until Sunday morning that he would start, appeared quite composed as he waited for the penalty kick. From studying the scouting reports, he said he knew Flores was a power player who probably would not try to finesse a goal by shooting for a corner.

“It was obvious he was going to try to hammer it down the middle,” Vanole said.

After he figured that out, all he had to do was wait. Flores did not disappoint him, aiming the ball about three feet to Vanole’s right and blasting it with his right foot. Stopping the ball from entering the net was as easy for Vanole as falling down.

Flores was flustered afterward, grumbling that Vanole distracted him by moving before the shot. If so, and the referee had called it, Costa Rica would have been awarded another kick.

But most of the Costa Ricans’ complaints were about calls that were made, including one late in the second half that led to the penalty kick. With Vanole badly out of position, one of his few mistakes, defender Steve Trittschuh of Granite City, Ill. covered for him in goal, barely getting his hands up in time to stop a shot by Costa Rica’s Alvaro Solano.

“It was the only thing I could do,” Trittschuh said. “I had to make them earn it, so I just stopped it any way I could.”

It was a game-saving play, albeit illegal. A goalkeeper can use his hands for a save, but the other players cannot. Costa Rica was awarded a penalty kick. But the Costa Ricans believed they deserved more. They said that they should have been awarded a goal because Trittschuh was standing in the goal mouth.

Trittschuh was not entirely persuasive when he said, “I was way out in front of the line.”

Costa Rica also had two goals disallowed, one because of an off-sides penalty in the first half and one in the second half because the referee ruled that the player who scored hit the ball with his hand.

The Costa Ricans did not agree with either call, letting the referee know it when they surrounded him at the end of the game. No one seemed to intend him any harm, but his ears must have been burning as security guards escorted him to the dressing room.

But as the referee, A. Rodolfo Mejia Martinez, is from Honduras, the Costa Ricans could not very well contend that they had been victimized by hometown officiating.

“He made mistakes, that’s all,” said Dr. Longino Soto, president of the Costa Rican soccer federation.

A fair result, Soto said, would have been a 1-1 tie.

A tie would have satisfied Costa Rica, which beat the United States, 1-0, at home two weeks ago. In a qualifying round that has five teams (Guatemala, El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago are the others) of almost equal ability, the goal is to win all the home games and at least tie one or two on the road. Teams earn two points for a victory and one for a tie.

Through four games, Costa Rica has four points but still has not scored any away from home. With two points after two games, the United States has another home date May 13 at Torrance against Trinidad and Tobago. The two teams with the most points after eight games earn World Cup berths, something the United States has not done since 1950.

Appearing to play for a scoreless tie, Costa Rica’s defensive strategy Sunday worked for about 72 minutes. But then midfielder Tab Ramos from Hillside, N.J. took a shot from 18 yards out that deflected off a defender and got past goalkeeper Luis Gabelo Conejo.

“That’s a feeling we haven’t had here in a while,” Ramos said.

To be exact, it had been 260 minutes since the U.S. national team had scored a goal, having been shut out in the last game of the Marlboro Cup before going to Costa Rica.

U.S. Coach Bob Gansler called the game at Costa Rica “a little bit of a clinker,” blaming the performance on a lack of enthusiasm. In an effort to add some emotion to the lineup, he benched goalkeeper Jeff Duback of Encinitas and started Vanole.

“I read that we have a goalkeeper controversy,” Gansler said. “We’ve never had that. We have two very talented young men who have different strengths and different weaknesses. (Vanole) played today because he’s more emotional, more dynamic.”

Vanole became even more committed to the cause in the first half, when a Costa Rican trainer, during an injury timeout, snatched the small U.S. flag that the goalkeeper planted near the goalpost and snapped the stick in Vanole’s face.

“That was rude of him,” Vanole said. “I was insulted that he had the guts to do that on our home turf. It wasn’t something I took lightly.”

Much later, when he got his chance for revenge, he made the most of it.