Union beat Costa Rica U-23s in Bradenton tournament opener

The Union opened their group stage schedule at the IMG Suncoast Pro Classic tournament in strong fashion, recording a 3-0 win over Costa Rica's under-23 national team.

Yes, it was just a preseason game; no, there wasn't any video of it; and yes, as a result, the only account of the action came from the Union's official Twitter feed. But the starting lineup was be pretty close to what it should be come Opening Day, and there were strong performances from Sébastien Le Toux, Cristian Maidana, C.J. Sapong, and Andrew Wenger.

In remarks issued by the team after the game, Jim Curtin said he wanted his team to "start focusing on results" at this stage of preseason. They did just that on Wednesday.

"We have set a goal to win this competition, and to keep a clean sheet was something that we also talked about," Curtin said. "We scored a couple of good goals today, too, so I was very happy with the performance."

The Union were on the board within 10 minutes of kickoff, as Le Toux converted a penalty after a Costa Rican handball. Le Toux also scored the third goal, assisted by Sapong. Maidana accounted for the second, assisted by Wenger.

"It was a good test for us," Curtin said. "Young teams, especially national teams, are going to be eager to impress and represent their countries. So I thought it was a good exercise for our guys."

Here's a summary of how the game played out: