Slumping U.S. loses to Costa Rica, 1-0

Tim Howard made his first appearance in goal for the United States in 15 months and was unable to stop the Americans’ slide.

Joel Campbell scored in the 70th minute, and Costa Rica beat the listless U.S., 1-0, in a soccer exhibition Tuesday night in Harrison, N.J.

Three days after a 3-2 loss to Mexico in a playoff for the region’s Confederations Cup berth, the U.S. generated few scoring chances in the latest of a string of dismal performances this year that have led to criticism of Coach Juergen Klinsmann, who sent defender Fabian Johnson home for asking to be substituted late in Saturday’s defeat at the Rose Bowl.

The Americans finished fourth at this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, their poorest performance since 2000, and are a team in transition as they head into the start of World Cup qualifying.

The Netherlands failed to the reach the European Championship for the first time since 1984, losing at home, 3-2, to Czech Republic, which finished atop Group A in qualifying for the 2016 tournament. The Dutch, who finished third at the 2014 World Cup, finished fourth in the group.

Turkey beat Iceland, 1-0, to take the automatic qualifying place for Euro 2016 as the best third-place finisher.

Joining Norway in Sunday’s playoff draw are Hungary, Ukraine, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia. The twolegged series will be staged Nov. 12-14 and Nov. 15-17, with the four winners heading to France next year.

The U.S. women’s soccer team will play China in an exhibition at the Superdome in New Orleans on Dec. 16, the final game of the Americans’ post-Word Cup victory tour.

The U.S. Soccer Federation said the women’s team will play three other matches in December that will be announced later.