CHICAGO — The fans stood and cheered when Clint Dempsey headed off the field in the second half, and the forward responded with his own round of applause.
Brad Guzan held his arms in the air after the final seconds of his happy homecoming.
After days of questions and criticism, it was a couple of perfect pictures for the United States.
Dempsey had a goal and two assists, and the U.S. rebounded from its opening loss in Copa America with a convincing 4-0 victory over Costa Rica on Tuesday night.
“Goals change games, and the guys up front took care of that,” said Guzan, who only had to make one save in his 16th international shutout.
Dempsey, Jermaine Jones and Bobby Wood scored in the first half and substitute Graham Zusi added another goal in the 87th minute as the U.S. moved into prime position to grab one of two spots in the knockout round coming out of Group A in South America’s championship.
A victory against Paraguay on Saturday night in Philadelphia and the Americans are through to the next stage.
It was quite a response to days of questions after the U.S. allowed a goal off a corner kick and committed a costly hand ball in a 2-0 loss to Colombia on Friday night. Another loss against Costa Rica and the U.S. would have been eliminated on the fifth day of the tournament.
“I see a team progressing. I see a team that badly wants to prove itself with these caliber teams in the Copa America,” U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said.
“It was a very, very encouraging performance by us against Colombia. Obviously, the result, especially here in the U.S., that’s all that matters to a lot of people. … The team, they know where they stand.”
Costa Rica, which played a scoreless tie against Paraguay in its Copa opener on Saturday in Florida, looked sluggish for long stretches of the first half and was unable to recover. It played without key defender Kendall Waston after he got a red card in the previous game.
The loss to Colombia ramped up criticism of Klinsmann, who said last month the Copa goal for the Americans was the semifinals.
U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati told a group of reporters before the match that recent results for the men’s team “haven’t been what we would have hoped for, especially in the official competitions.”