U.S. beats Costa Rica in thrilling penalty shootout to advance in Gold Cup
The U.S. advanced to a Wednesday matchup in St. Louis against Guatemala, which upset Canada on penalty kicks in the opener of the quarterfinal doubleheader.
"They showed today great character," U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said.
Freese batted away shootout attempts by Juan Pablo Vargas, Francisco Calvo and Andy Rojas.
"Penalties are my thing," Freese said. "On the plane ride over here to Minnesota I was studying the penalties and I've been studying them all week."
Mexico plays Honduras in the other semifinal on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California. The championship is in Houston on July 6.
The U.S. has reached the semifinals in 17 of 18 Gold Cups, including 13 straight since a penalty-kicks loss to Colombia in a 2000 quarterfinal.
Diego Luna and Max Arfsten scored in regulation for the No. 16 U.S., which faced its highest-ranked opponent of the tournament in Costa Rica (54th) after breezing through the group stage with an 8-1 goal differential.
Alonso Martinez scored the tying goal for the Ticos in the 71st minute with a left-footed shot after Carlos Mora split Luca de La Torre and Arsten to take a shot on Freese and seize the rebound to set up Martinez.
CONCACAF changed the rules for this edition of the biennial championship for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, eliminating extra time except for the championship game.
John Tolkin had the first chance to win the shootout for the U.S. Keylor Navas knocked down his try in the fifth round.
Freese then denied Rojas with a diving hand, climbing to his feet while nodding his head and sticking out his tongue toward his cheering teammates at midfield. That set up the winner by the 20-year-old Downs.
Missing the tournament for the U.S. are regulars Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, Tim Weah, Gio Reyna, Antonee Robinson, Folarin Balogun and Sergiño Dest, due to a variety of reasons from injuries to rest to Club World Cup commitments.
The Ticos played without four key players. Forward Manfred Ugalde, who had three goals in the tournament, and midfielder Carlos Mora were suspended for yellow-card accumulation. Defender Ariel Lassiter (broken left hand) and forward Warren Madrigal (broken left leg) were sidelined by injuries.
Three of Costa Rica's six goals during the group stage came by penalty kick, and Calvo added another one in the 12th minute after a foul by Arsten. Calvo went low to zip the ball just out of reach of a diving Freese.
Malik Tillman put a 37th-minute penalty kick off a post and Navas knocked away Arfsten's attempt off the rebound.
Luna scored his first international goal in the 43rd by rocketing a shot off the chest of defender Alexis Gamboa. Tillman made amends for his miss early in the second half by poking a pass ahead for Arfsten, who surged in from a wing to send the ball into the opposite corner for a 2-1 lead.
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