Costa Rica Gives the U.S. a Jolt, 2-0 : Soccer: Americans lose game matching World Cup qualifiers, face Colombia for third place in tournament at Miami.

After 2 1/2 euphoric months since qualifying for this summer’s World Cup in Italy, the U.S. national soccer team hit the Orange Bowl’s prescription turf hard Friday night.

Costa Rica, another World Cup qualifier but hardly a world power, scored in the ninth minute and was virtually unchallenged for the remainder of the game in a 2-0 victory before a crowd of about 20,000 in the first round of the Marlboro Cup.

That relegates the United States to the third-place game Sunday afternoon against Colombia, which lost to Uruguay, 2-0. That was the second game Friday night, when the crowd grew to 25,392 as additional fans came to watch the more exciting and skillful South American style of soccer.

Uruguay, which scored both goals in the final 13 minutes, will meet Costa Rica Sunday night for the championship.

In comments to his players after the game, U.S. Coach Bob Gansler lectured them about their lack of effort. But he told reporters later that he did not expect much more from the players than they gave him considering that they had not played a game since Nov. 19.

“We knew that our players needed some time off, and now we’re starting to build them up again,” he said. “We didn’t look good, but it’s more a matter of fitness and timing than it is ability. This is our first preseason game.”

But the players did not let themselves off so easily. They beat themselves up after the game as badly as Costa Rica did during it.

“The coach made it plain and simple,” said goalkeeper Tony Meola, who allowed no goals in his four World Cup qualifying games last year. “We didn’t have a hell of a lot of intensity.”

The most critical player was Hugo Perez, usually a midfielder but a forward in this game as Gansler experimented with his lineup.

Perez said some of the U.S. players were too impressed with themselves after qualifying for the World Cup from the North and Central American and Caribbean region (CONCACAF). Costa Rica, which split two games with the United States last year, is the other qualifier from that region.

“We haven’t done anything; we’re nothing,” he said. “We qualified from CONCACAF, the worst region in the World Cup. The trouble is we think we’re superstars. We’ve got to play more as a team.”