Oct. 11, 2000 SportsLine.com wire reports

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The United States put its hopes for qualifying for the 2002 World Cup in a precarious position, playing a scoreless tie Wednesday night against Costa Rica.

The United States would have clinched advancing to the next round with a win.

Instead, with one game left in the semifinal round of qualifying in soccer's North and Central American region, Costa Rica (3-1-1) leads Group E with 10 points, two ahead of the United States (2-1-2) and three ahead of Guatemala (2-2-1).

Only the top two nations qualify for next year's six-nation regional finals, meaning the United States might need a win in its final game, at Barbados on Nov. 15.

Guatemala plays at home against Costa Rica on the same day, and both games will kick off at the same time. While the United States routed Barbados 7-0 on Aug. 16 at Foxboro, Mass., the Americans had a two-man advantage for the final 49 minutes.

And Barbados has played much better at home, upsetting Costa Rica 2-1 and losing to Guatemala 3-1.

The Costa Ricans played conservatively for most of the game content to play long balls from the back to try to beat the American's offside trap. In the second half. they packed defenders around their goal to preserve the tie.

The United States was missing suspended midfielders Claudio Reyna, Earnie Stewart and Eddie Lewis, injured midfielder Tab Ramos, injured forward Brian McBride, and suspended coach Bruce Arena.

The mostly pro-American crowd of 24,430 at Crew Stadium got loud in the closing minutes of the game when it looked as if Ante Razov slipped a pass from Josh Wolff past goalkeeper Alvaro Messen. Fans threw plastic beer bottles and trash on to the field after Razov was called offside.

Chris Armas, back from a sprained knee ligament, had a 21-yard shot late in the second half that Messen was just able to deflect. Three U.S. players converged on the rebound but were called offside.

The best change for the Americans in the first half came in the 23rd minute, when Messen saved a Razov short to the upper right corner.

It was a physical game that included 35 fouls, and the Americans outshot the Costa Ricans 8-4.

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