When San Jose Earthquakes forward Marco Ureña scored against the LA Galaxy on Aug. 27, it would have been hard to fathom that it would be just the starting point for quite possibly the most fascinating two weeks of his professional career.
Departing the training facility at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Ureña and the Costa Rica National Team were up against two of the toughest matchups in CONCACAF – at the United States and vs. Mexico. Ureña not only started both matches, helping guide Los Ticos to four points, but he scored three goals across the two fixtures.
Just how rare was his performance during this international break? We’ll let the numbers speak for themselves:
Of all players that competed in the three strongest confederations within FIFA (Europe, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF), Ureña is one of just six to tally three or more goals, including at least one in both of his team’s games. He is the lone player to do so from outside Europe. He joins Danish midfielder Thomas Delaney (Werder Bremen), German forward Timo Werner (RB Leipzig), Swiss forward Haris Seferovic (Benfica) and the Spanish duo of Isco (Real Madrid) and Alvaro Morata (Chelsea).
Not bad, Marco. Not bad.
