Although the "Guerreros del Sur" gave it their best shot, the tradition won out in the end and Saprissa claimed their title at home in a penalty shootout.  Perez Zeledon took the lead in the 26th minute on a goal by Kenny Cunningham.  They were able to hold the lead until literally the last minute, when a penalty shot was awarded in the 94th minute by referee Édgar Durán.  Ronald Gomez fooled the goalie Dexter Lewis to convert the penalty and to force overtime. The penalty was a controversial call, for several reasons:  many replays show no contact or very little contact by the defender, it was obvious that Gerald Drummond exaggerated what contact there was, it wasn’t clear that the striker had a chance to make a play on the ball.  However, many experts consulted by the local media said that it was a valid call, while a few said that it was not while crediting Drummond with a great acting job.

In overtime neither team took many risks, and in the penalty shootout Saprissa won when Jose Francisco Porras stopped two of the five penalty shots. 

Saprissa is now at least the sub-champion of this year’s tournament, as winner of the opening phase.  The closing phase, will begin on Sunday January 15th with 6 games: Carmelita-Puntarenas, Santos-Alajuela, San Ramon-Saprissa, Heredia-Brujas, Cartago-Pérez Zeledón and Santa Cruz - Liberia.

Saprissa passes over to Group A with Heredia, Puntarenas, Santa Cruz, Liberia and San Ramon.  Alajuela  goes to Group B with Pérez Zeledón, Cartago, Brujas, Carmelita and Santos of Guápiles. Each team will face rivals within their group twice and face the other teams once. The qualifying phase of 16 games will finish on April 2nd. The top two teams from each group qualify, then the 1st place of Group A will face the second place team from Group B and vice versa.

The 19th and 23rd of April will be the finals, then if Saprissa is not the winner, the playoff between the winner of the closing phase and Saprissa will be April 26 and 30th.

Clubs may sign new players or make trades until February 23rd.  The tournament will have 3 breaks, to allow the national team to prepare for the World Cup in friendly matches on January 25th, February 11th, and March 1st. 

Last night the table was set for a winner take all match on Friday to determine the national champion.  The Saprissa "B" squad opened the scoring in the 40th minute with a spinning strike by Gerald Drummond.  Perez substitute Bill Gonzalez saved the series for the Southern Warriors with a score in the 68th minute. 

Saprissa only started one player from the squad that played Monday night, goalie Jose Francisco Porras.  Local analysts figure Saprissa to have a big edge, since the Friday night game will be in "The Cave".  Also fatigue could be a factor for the Perez players, who had plenty of rest before Wednesday’s match but now face their second game in 3 days on Friday at 8 pm. 

It was a dark and stormy night….
Even though Saprissa gave up an early goal to go down 3-0 in the overall score, they came back with 4 unanswered goals to advance to the final round of the playoffs against Perez Zeledon.

Goals
0-1, K. Bernard at 11′. 1-1, W. Centeno at 20′. 2-1 C. Bolaños at 40′. 3-1, A. Solís at 45′. 4-1, W. Centeno at 86′.

Next Matches:
Wednesday 8 pm at Perez Zeledon
Friday 8 pm in Saprissa Stadium

The Puntarenas played naughty hosts to Saprissa in the opening match of their playoff series, winning handily by a score of 2-0.  It was nearly 3-0, but goalie Jose Francisco Porras saved a score in the final minutes, winning a one-on-one duel with Rayner Robinson on a breakaway.

The superiority of Puntarenas on the field was evident.  Saprissa’s players and coaches did not make excuses, but local analysts wondered how much the fast turnaround after a long trip from Japan hurt them.   Saprissa will try to recover by Monday, while Puntarenas is confident that they can do what they need to advance. 

Puntarenas coach Ronald "El Macho" Mora put it nicely, "There are 90 minutes left, if we could do it today, we can take care of business in Tibas. Perez Zeledon did it, with only 1 goal difference against La Liga, why can’t we?". 

An eventual tourney final not involving either Saprissa or La Liga would be the first since the move to the current 2 phase tournament system.

In a surprise upset on Saturday, the "Guerreros del Sur" of Perez Zeledon left Alajuela out of the final which will determine the champion of the opening phase.  PZ won the first match at home 1-0, but most locals expected La Liga to easily win by a two goal margin at home on Saturday.  But Alajuela could not score on the warriors, and only an own goal by PZ defender Alexandar Madrigal allowed La Liga to tie the global scoreboard.  The teams went to overtime and then to a penalty shootout, which Perez Zeledon won 5-4.

The warriors will await the winner of the Puntarenas - Saprissa series.

Saprissa closed the World Club Championship on a high note, beating Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia 3-2.  In the championship match Liverpool lost a match they dominated to Sao Paolo of Brazil. 

Saprissa scorer Alvaro Saborio finally got a goal at the 13 minute mark on a precision pass from tourney revelation Cristian Bolaños.  This goal was against the run of play, as the Saudis were pressuring Saprissa effectively at the time.  However the "Tigers" regrouped and came up with the tying goal in the 28 minute.

8 minutes into the second half, Mohammed Kallon was fouled by Ronald Gonzalez and executed the penalty shot himself to put Saprissa into a hole.   The Saudi side continued to pressure and was close to sealing the victory, but gradually Saprissa took control of the game. On an attack by Saprissa with only 5 minutes left to play, Ronald Gomez was taken down in the area and the referee awarded the penalty shot which Saborio converted to tie the game.

Although it seemed that a penalty shoot out was going to decide the 3rd place, a foul just outside the area in the 89th minute gave Saprissa a golden opportunity.  Ronald Gomez unleashed a missile that went into the corner of the goal and gave Saprissa the win.

Saprissa never recovered from a fast goal by the European champions at the 2 minute mark.  Liverpool will take on the Brazilian side Sao Paolo on Sunday in the championship match, while Saprissa will look to recover some pride as they take on the Saudia Arabian team Al Ittihad, who lost to the Brazilians yesterday.  The match begins at 1:00 am Sunday local time, and the final will begin at 4:20 am the same day.

Liverpool kept Saprissa’s top players under a close watch and local analysts felt that the Costa Rican side gave the English team too much leeway throughout the first half.  Saprissa was more aggressive in the second half, but a 3rd goal sealed their fate. 

The local press compared the payrolls in pre-match coverage.  They noted that the Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard makes more money in 7 days than any Saprissa player makes in an entire season (10 months +) 

While Puntarenas waits for Saprissa to come back from Japan, Alajuela and Perez Zeledon went ahead with their playoff series on Sunday.  Despite playing with only 10 men, due to an expulsion in the first half, Perez Zeledon won the first match at home 1-0.  The next match will be Saturday at 8 pm.

With a solid 1-0 victory over Sydney FC of Australia, Saprissa has advanced to the semifinal.  Local analysts gave the Australians an edge in the first half of play, but that domination did not result in any goal.  Saprissa improved in the second half and the winning goal was scored by Cristian Bolaños in the second minute of play.   Saprissa had several other chances, but great play by Sydney’s goal keeper prevented them from getting an insurance goal. 

On Thursday, Saprissa will face European champions Liverpool, who are favored to win the cup. Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia beat African champions Al Ahly of Egypt on Sunday.  They will face Brazil’s Sao Paulo in the other semifinal on Wednesday.

In a historic moment in the annals of Costa Rican soccer, the national team won the opportunity to play the very first game of the 2006 World Cup against the Germany.  As per World Cup tradition, the host country plays the first match against one team from its group.  Since it is the only match played at that time, and since it is the first match, literally the whole world is watching.  As the Polish team coach Pawel Janas said: ‘Playing the hosts is a great thing, it’s just a shame it isn’t the opening match. That would have been even nicer."

Costa Rica was the lucky team to get that match.  And while Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann expressed delight about his host team’s opponents at the 2006 World Cup, Franz Beckenbauer, the team to be wary of  the opening match. 

‘Opening matches have been embarrassing for the favourites and caused surprises. 1990 in Italy Argentina lost to Cameroon and in 2002 France lost to Senegal. I hope we won’t see another surprise,’  he said. ‘Costa Rica are delighted, who has the chance to play in front of an billion-strong audience in the opener? It is special for a small country like Costa Rica,’ he added.

Costa Rica coach Alexandre Guimaraes agreed. ‘I liked the draw very much. We have a chance to advance. Germany are naturally favourites but that doesn’t mean they will beat everyone’ .  The Costa Rican players also expressed satisfaction at the opportunity. 

The team captain, Luis Marin of Alajuela said "Opening the world cup, you can’t put a price on it."  He also thought that the overall draw was favorable. "It’s not easy, but we can fight for a spot in the next round."  Costa Rica has appeared in the World Cup twice, in Italy 1990 and in Korea-Japan 2002.  The other 3 teams from CONCACAF were also commenting on their luck in the draw. 

Mexico was chosen to be a group leader in Group D.  As was to be expected, they are the strongest team in the group and should pass to the elimination rounds with little trouble.

The United States was a loser in the drawing.  While the real "group of death" has yet to be determined, Group E looks like a real possibity with Italy, Ghana, United States, and Czech Republic.  These are all proven winners, experienced in World Cup play and historically among the strongest teams in their regions. 

Trinidad and Tobago is pleased to have the opportunity to play against mother England and should have and outside shot at passing through. 

Costa Rica is estatic and feels like if they have any chance to beat Germany, it would be in the opening match.  Afterwards, they should have reasonable odds against Poland and Ecuador.

Group A
Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador

Group B
England
Paraguay
Trinidad and Tobago
Sweden

Group C
Argentina
Côte d’Ivoire
Serbia and Montenegro
Netherlands

Group D
Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal

Group E
Italy
Ghana
United States
Czech Republic

Group F
Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan

Group G
France
Switzerland
Korea Republic
Togo

Group H
Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia