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COLUMBUS, OH - OCTOBER 13: Tim Weah #20 of United States celebrates with his teammate Sergiño Dest #2 after scoring the second goal of his team during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers match between United States and Costa Rica at Lower.com Field on October 13, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images)

Tim Weah and Sergiño Dest were responsible for the two USMNT goals against Costa Rica. (Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images)

Tim Weah was supposed to spend most of his Wednesday evening in Columbus sitting on a bench.

He wasn’t supposed to start the U.S. men’s national team’s pivotal World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica. Until “literally five minutes” before it, he didn’t know he would. When he did, as an injury replacement, he was supposed to exit after an hour of taxing labor. Reinforcements had been prepared. Weah saw them. And according to keen observers on site, he looked “cooked.”

But then, with the USMNT struggling to break a 1-1 tie, and with opportunity waning, Weah burst into the penalty box. He barely even glanced at goal. And he fired the U.S. to the top of North and Central America’s qualifying table with a textbook finish.

Technically, it will go down as an own goal. And on paper, Weah’s whirlwind of a Wednesday night will look relatively mundane. He played 73 minutes. He didn’t score. He exited to polite applause, one of many contributors to a crucial 2-1 U.S. victory. Sergiño Dest was the original star. Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah were vital. Weah’s performance was strong but unspectacular.

But under these circumstances, it was remarkable. The 21-year-old from New York didn’t even know when he’d get on the field. He only found out he’d start when Paul Arriola, penciled in as the right winger, pulled out of warmups with a groin injury. U.S. Soccer announced the late change 13 minutes before gametime. Weah replaced Arriola on short notice, perhaps unprepared for a 90-minute battle.

And indeed, early in the second half, he seemed to be struggling. If his night had ended there, around the 65th minute, it would have mirrored his young career, full of promise but twists and turns, injuries, roadblocks to stardom. As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, he hadn’t yet scored a meaningful USMNT goal.

But then, in the 66th minute, he pounced on Sergiño Dest’s clever pass. He kept his head down, his eyes drilling into the ball, the back of the net in his peripheral vision. He found it, and completed the USMNT’s second crucial comeback in as many months.

The evening had begun ominously. Smoke from pregame fireworks hadn’t even cleared. A daunting tifo still lingered when, 59 seconds into the match, Costa Rica struck. Bryan Ruiz, the longtime Ticos wizard, unlocked the U.S. right side with an inventive back-heel. Ronald Matarrita beat Dest down the line. Matarrita’s cross found its way to an unmarked Keysher Fuller at the back post.

Fuller’s volley was tame. But Zack Steffen, a mildly controversial choice to start over Matt Turner, seemed to be put off by Costa Rican striker Jonathan Moya, who was right in his lap.

And Moya wasn’t offside, because back where the cross came from, Dest was all the way off the pitch, keeping every Costa Ric.

Dest, though, would soon redeem himself. At the end of a 13-pass move, he danced inside onto his non-dominant left foot and sent a thunderbolt into the top corner to level the score at one.

And not only did he do it with his left foot, but also with an untied left shoe.

The U.S. bossed much of the game. Either side of halftime, it pressed and pressed for a winner. Weah, via a post and a goalkeeper’s back, snatched it. And once again, three days after a dismal display, sent a fan base into a panic, the USMNT is back on track to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

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