Team USA secured their sixth World Cup Finals appearance in a row after defender Jonathan Bornstein scored a headed equalizer deep into injury time to give the Stars and Stripes a deserved 2-2 draw against Costa Rica. The goal will be richly remembered for the way the US fans held aloft the number nine after striker Charlie Davies was ruled out for the forseeable after being injured in a fatal car crash on the eve of the match.

On Oct. 14, 2009, the United States national team took to the pitch at RFK Stadium in Washington DC to take on Costa Rica, who were looking to clinch the final automatic CONCACAF World Cup birth.

The day before the match, United States striker Charlie Davies got severely injured in a car accident that took the life of fellow passenger Ashley J. Roberta, and injured the driver of the car.

After the accident, it was revealed that Davies had a broken leg, a lacerated spleen, a broken elbow and multiple facial fractures. With this injury, it appears that Davies will not be able to participate in next year's World Cup.

However, Costa Rica came into this match needing either a win or a Honduras loss to clinch a birth in the 2010 World Cup.

As the teams assembled onto the field, United States fans started chants for Davies, and held up cards with Davies' No. 9 on them.

As the match began, the United States initially got several chances, none better than Conor Casey's one-on-one with Costa Rican keeper K Navas, where Casey's shot went clear over the bar.

Shortly after the miss, Costa Rica went onto the attack, including several shots that tested United States keeper Tim Howard, but the game remained scoreless.

As the game entered the ninth minute, United States fans started to chant for Charlie Davies for the entire minute in honor of his No. 9.

In the 20th minute, Costa Rica's Bryan Ruiz powered past U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu and had a close one-on-one with Howard, and the Costa Rican striker was able to bury into the back of the net to give Costa Rica a 1-0 lead.

But Ruiz wasn't done, as just four minutes later he was able to nail a shot into the far left corner from about 20 yards away, doubling Costa Rica's lead to 2-0.

After the goal, the United States continued to be on the attack and had several chances to get a goal back, but the Costa Rican defense and Navas were able to prevent the Americans from getting onto the board. At the end of the first half, the score was 2-0 in favor of Costa Rica.

After the half was over, the United States continued their attack on the Costa Rican goal, but they still weren't able to score.

After several more failed chances, substitute Robbie Rogers was able to send in a cross to Landon Donovan, who glanced a shot off of Navas. U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley recovered and drove it home, bringing the score to 2-1 in the 71st minute.

However, the great feeling of the goal left the US after a corner in the 82nd minute, wen Onyewu went up for a header but landed awkwardly on the wet grass, and immediately needed medical attention.

After the match, Onyewu was diagnosed with a torn patellar tendon, which will keep Oneywu out of play for the next three to four months.

But U.S. coach Bob Bradley had already used all three of his substitutes, so once Onyewu left the pitch for good, the United States was down to ten men.

Things started to fall apart for Costa Rica in the 88th minute, as new coach Luis Arnaez and assistant Rene Simoes both got red-carded over the timing of a substitution, which put Costa Rica's strength and conditioning coach Marcelo Tulbovitz in charge of the team until the end of the match.

But due to the substitutions, the injury, and the Costa Rican coaching incident, five minutes of stoppage time were added on to the match.

After failing to score on a corner and with very little time left in stoppage time, the United States were able to draw a corner, and defender Jonathan Bornstein was able to head the pass into the back of the net with about 20 seconds of stoppage time remaining, tying the game at two on the final play of the match.

After the game ended, Costa Rica learned that Honduras won in El Salvador 1-0, clinching Honduras their first World Cup birth in 28 years and sending Costa Rica into the CONCACAF/COMMEBOL playoff, where they will have to face Uruguay.

But, Costa Rica won't know if Arnaez will be able to manage during the first leg of the playoff due to the red card.

Also after the end of the match, the United States also learned that Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago tied at two, which meant that the United States are the winners of the CONCACAF qualifying cycle.

After the match ended, the United States squad went to the fans and celebrated the result with them, and gathered together with a banner that resembled the cards that the fans had with them that had Davies over his No. 9.

Also, several members of the United States squad said several words to the fans thanking them for their support, and telling Charlie Davies they played that game for him.

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