Costa Rica looks to seize opportunity at home

November 11, 2009

Costa Rica was 30 seconds from earning a trip to the World Cup next year. Now it has another 180 minutes to try again.

If the Costa Rican national team wants to qualify to the quadrennial championship in South Africa, it will have to capitalize on the home-field advantage Saturday in the first leg of its qualifying playoff against Uruguay at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San José.

Any other result will make the Ticos’ desire of a third straight trip to the World Cup much more difficult. Four days later, la Tricolor will visit mythic Estadio Centenario in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo.

After failing to earn a direct berth – allowing a 95th minute equalizer to the United States on October 14 in Washington, Costa Rica now must face an opponent with a roster filled with foreign-based players such as Diego Forlan, last year’s leading scorer in Spain’s La Liga.

In Costa Rica, expectations are high. The 19,500 tickets put on sale sold out in a day and half, assuring a capacity crowd at el Saprissa.

Certain details are sure to affect the first leg, not the least of which is Saprissa’s artificial surface which gave the the Ticos a distinct advantage throughout World Cup qualifying. In its nine games at home, Costa Rica won eight by a combined score of 23-1, not counting its only blemish: a 3-0 defeat to Mexico during a three-game losing streak in August and September.

However, according to the history between the two teams, the numbers do not favor Rene Simoes’ charges. Costa Rica has never defeated La Celeste in eight tries, friendlies or competitive matches.

On Saturday, Costa Rica will have its full rosters available, including its most notable foreign-based player, Bryan Ruiz. Ruiz’s nine goals so far this season with FC Twente in the Netherlands make the youngster Costa Rica’s most dangerous attacker.

On the other side of the field, los Charruas have been hit by a number of a key absences, including injuries to Jorge Fucile of Porto in Portugal and Jorge “Malaka” Martinez of Italy’s Catania.

Additionally, Uruguay will without several players due to accumulated yellow or red-card suspensions: Martín Cáceres (Juventus, Italy), Andrés Scotti (Argentinos Juniors, Argentina), Diego Pérez (Mónaco, France) y Maximiliano Pereira (Benfica, Portugal). Porto midfielder Christian Rodriguez will miss both playoff matches after receiving a four-match ban for striking Argentina’s Gabriel Heinze after the final whistle on October 14.

Heading into the match, Simoes has opted to close all training sessions to the media to limit knowledge of his tactics and plans. Uruguay has moved its training camp to Guatemala, where it is preparing on an artificial surfance to get ready for the turf in el Saprissa.

With all his secrecy, however, Simoes will not be on the Costa Rica bench Saturday, having been ejected from the end of the 2-2 draw against the United States on October 14. FIFA subsequently suspended him for one match.

Both games will be officiated by European referees, the first having been assigned to Spain’s Alberto Indiano while the second to Switzerland’s Massimo Busacca.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica

By Kenneth Hernández Cerdas

Tags: absences, Alberto Indiano, Andres Scotti, artificial surface, august and september, blemish, Bryan Ruiz, capacity crowd, charruas, diego forlan, distinct advantage, equalizer, estadio centenario, estadio ricardo saprissa, game losing streak, Guatemala, home field advantage, Jorge, jorge fucile, Kenneth Hernández, porto in portugal, Rene Simoes, Ricardo Saprissa, ruiz ruiz, South Africa, straight trip, uruguayan capital, Washington

Costa Rica to host Honduras in key Central American World Cup clash

February 8, 2009

Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda is so serious about earning points at next week’s World Cup qualifying match at Costa Rica that he had the team fly to Bogota, Colombia on Tuesday to prepare on the artificial surface of a club in the Colombian capital.

Estadio Saprissa in San Jose has the same type of turf and the Colombian coach wants to make sure his troops are prepared to play on the artificial surface and to mitigate any potential surprises.

Costa Rica and Honduras arguably are regarded as the two best Central American sides, so the encounter is expected to be a close one, especially if the Hondurans’ history in San Jose means anything. They has lost only once in seven matches in Costa Rica and won twice. That is quite an accomplishment because Saprissa’ voracious spectators are known to be some of the most intimidating fans in this hemisphere if not the world.

After struggling against Grenada in the second round in June under former Costa Rican international standout Hernan Medford, Rodrigo Kenton took over the coaching reins and guided the Ticos to a perfect 6-0 record and 18 points in the semifinal round against El Salvador, Haiti and Suriname.

Bryan Ruiz, who does his club scoring for KAA Gent (Belgium) has blossomed as the Ticos’ main man up front after Kenton took over. Other key performers include Froylan Ledezma (VfB Admira Wacker Modling, Austria), defender Ganzalo Segares (Chicago Fire, USA), and forwards Roland Gomez (Saprissa) and Rolando Fonseca (Comunicaciones).

The Hondurans are buoyed by the fact they finished atop their semifinal group ahead of Mexico and Jamaica. Striker David Suazo (Benfica, Portugal) is the the Catrachos’ top threat. Veteran midfielder Amado Guevara (FC Toronto, USA) is the Hondurans’ wild card. He can set up and scores, but at the recent UNCAF Cup he was red carded twice. Ramon Nunez (Puebla, Mexico) is another key midfielder. Carlos Pavon was not called in due to an injury.

Both national sides qualified for this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup. Costa Rica lost to Panama in the final after a scoreless draw, dropping a 5-3 penalty-kick shootout. Honduras took third place, edging El Salvador, 1-0.

The countries have experienced contrasting World Cup fortunes in recent years. After becoming only the second Central American nation to reach the World Cup (after El Salvador) in 1982, Honduras has missed six consecutive tournaments.

The Costa Ricans, on the other hand, have become one of CONCACAF’s perennial powers, having reached soccer’s promised land on three occasions, including in 1990, 2002 and 2006. Not bad for a country that has a population all of 4.1 million.

Honduras, with 7.5 million citizens, would love to duplicate the Costa Ricans’ feat just once. The Central American side could take a big step toward South Africa with a point or three on Wednesday.

By Michael Lewis

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