by Rod Hughes

The big purple “S” arrives in Houston to take on the Dynamos in the regional Champion’s Cup of CONCACAF tomorrow in the semifinals of the soccer tourney. Coach Jeaustin Campos has evolved a fast game he hopes will discombobulate Houston’s ordered defense.

Campos has rested is veterans well for this match, a move that resulted in Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of lowly Puntarenas, the first that high-flying Saprissa has suffered this year. But the port city was quick to take advantage of the fact that Campos had fielded a side made up of bench-warmers. Still, the defeat must have stung, since the port city is one of the weakest in the First Division.

“Well, you have to choose the most important thing,” shrugged Campos after the defeat. Saprissa has such a lead this year in First Division play that the defeat means little. But sports is also about money and these tournaments bring big bucks, worth more monetarily than the regular season. They often result in lucrative contracts abroad for their players in which the club takes its cut. Nice as well for the players, but clubs pay more attention to how much a foreign club buying a player’s contract pays than for the career boost for the player himself.

Heredia Boots Javier Delgado

In other soccer news, the Heredia First Division club has fired coach Javier Delgado after his team lost the last two matches against sides that are so weak they are in danger of sliding into the Second Division. The club blew the last two matches against Cartago and University of Costa Rica.

Club president Aquil Ali made the announcement under the stands of the Rosibal Cordero Stadium one day after he assured the press that Delgado would stay on for the rest of the season. So far this year, Heredia’s record is a so-so five victories, three defeats and four ties. Delgado had been at the club’s helm for 16 months.

The recently retired Costa Rican soccer star Pablo Cesar Wanchope has been named to replace Delgado. Wanchope, a crowd favorite every time he appeared with the All Star national team, made a name for himself playing in Europe and the United States, retired recently due to a persistent knee injury.

by Rod Hughes

For Vice President Laura Chinchilla, it must seem like a homecoming. She has been tapped to take over the Ministry of Public Security in the faillout over presumed infiltration of Colombian FARC guerrillas into Costa Rica. Meanwhile a special Legislative Assembly investigative committee has been named to conduct a three-month probe into the matter.

Chinchilla was Public Security Minister under former President Jose Figueres (1994-98) before turning politician and takes over for Fernando Berrocal who resigned unexpectedly last Sunday in the aftermath of statements indicating that Costa Rican politicos could be involved with FARC. She is also Minister of Justice, administering the nation’s prison system.

The Vice President will head up a special high-level mission to Colombia on the matter, consisting of the country’s head prosecutor, Francisco Dall’Anese and Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno. The latter has notified his Colombian counterpart, Fernando Araujo, of the impending visit. “The idea is to continue a strong coordination (with Colombia). This is a subject of national security,” explained Chinchilla, adding. “We don’t want to interfer with judicial relations (between the countries). We want to guarantee transparency in the flow of information during the investigation, whether it is judicial or legislative.”

The Legislative Assembly vote to create a short-term, nine-member investigative committee carried easily with 45 votes in favor. Berrocal was scheduled to testify before the lawmakers about his statements that local politcos could be involved with the murderous FARC guerrillas but his resignation invalidated the invitation. Now he will likely be called as a private citizen and has agreed to testify.

The probe is the fallout following the discovery by police of $480,000 of FARC funds in a safe in the home of an Heredia couple and reports of visits by FARC top officials with them. (See previous articles on this blog.)