While at 9 pm things looked bleak for the home teams, with Alajuela suffering a 0-0 tie and Saprissa lost in space at a 2 nil disadvantage to the Galaxy, by the end of the night the Ticos were celebrating.

Alajuela advanced on a missile by Carlos Hernandez (nothing new there) in the 90th minute to send the New England Revolution home with wet powder (0 goals in the two matches).

In a much more intense and interesting match, Saprissa started out by giving up field position and 2 goals to a surprisingly aggressive Los Angeles Galaxy.  Josh Gardner (20′) and Landon Donovan (40′) scored beautiful goals for former Tico national squad coach Steve Sampson to give him a comfortable 2-0 lead at the half.

However, Saprissa trainer Hernan Medford lit a fire under his squad at the half and made what turned out to be a brilliant substition sending in Alonso Solís for Andre Nuñez.  The move paid off immediately as Solís served up Walter Centeno for a header with only 40 seconds gone in the second half.  Solís scored himself fifteen minutes later.

While Saprissa dominated the rest of the way in regulation, the 3rd goal did not come until overtime when Reynaldo Parks scored the coup de grace.

The Ticos will face Mexican squads in the semifinals and will look to have an all Costa Rican final, just like in 2004. Alajuela will face America, while Saprissa will play Toluca.

America beat a Jamaican squad Portmore United  5-2 yesterday (7-3 global) in Aztec Stadium. While Toluca beat Olimpia of Honduras, winning 2-1 yesterday (4-1 global).

The first game of the semifinals will be from March 21 - 23, and the second between March 28 - 30.

After 2 Supreme Court decisions, over 1 year of campaigning, millions of dollars later and the closest presidential race in decades, Oscar Arias has been officially declared President elect.

With a slim 18,169 vote margin over Ottón Solís, of PAC, the 65 year old Arias will return to Zapote after 20 years.  Arias was president from 1986 to 1990, and on May 8th he will substitute Abel Pacheco of PUSC. In his acceptance speech, which he has had plenty of time to polish to perfection, Arias dedicated his victory to the poorest, who were those that allowed him to win and who believed in his platform.

Arias said that “now is the time to get to work, to define priorities, reach out to opponents to exchange ideas, and to get the country rolling again.”  Another key will be the fight against corruption as Arias announced a zero tolerance policy.

The Arias win means that the CAFTA agreement will have a strong backer in Zapote, which it will need as it comes up for debate on Raspberry Hill.

“It will just be a strategic matter as to when we will discuss the trade pact, but it will happen, no one can believe that we will back down. Those who voted for me, knew that they voted in favor of CAFTA. There will be respect for the minorities, but the mandate that the majority gave me is sacred.  Costa Ricans know that Oscar Arias is a man of his word. ” Arias stated. “CAFTA is an instrumento, not an end in itself, it is not even the most important. To me, the most important things are public safety, to generate jobs and to support education However, many are the things that this country cannot do if we don’t have access to a market of 300 million habitants”.

Otton Solís did not make any additional statements as to the official announcement, since he admitted defeat last Friday. “I don’t know what more I can say, I said everything I had to and my views are expressed in the documentation I have already turned in. “