Mexico, USA book tickets for Qatar

The United States and Mexico booked their tickets to the World Cup fi nals in Qatar on Wednesday after securing the results needed to claim the last two automatic qualifying places from the CONCACAF region. The USA were beaten 2-0 by Costa Rica in San Jose to fi nish third in the standings while Mexico eased past El Salvador 2-0 in Mexico City to fi nish second overall.

Costa Rica fi nished qualifying in fourth place and will face New Zealand in a playoff for a World Cup berth. Canada, who completed their successful qualifying campaign with a 1-0 defeat in Panama on Wednesday, had already qualifi ed for the World Cup on Sunday. Both the US and Mexico had all-but sealed qualifi cation after wins on Sunday meant only a freak set of results in Wednesday’s fi nal round would see either side relegated to a playoff place.

Costa Rica needed to beat the US by six goals or more in San Jose to have a chance of qualifying. Two second-half goals in eight minutes by Juan Vargas and Anthony Contreras raised hopes of a miracle for the home fans, but the United States regrouped to close out the game, qualifying ahead of Costa Rica on goal difference.

“I’m extremely proud of this group,” US star Christian Pulisic said after Wednesday’s defeat. “It’s a bit of a weird feeling right now because I hate to lose so much. But I’m really proud and I can’t wait to go to the World Cup."