Maybe Hermes Navarro, Costa Rica’s national team boss, is a lot smarter than we give him credit for.  Despite a home crowd advantage in Oakland, an organized preparation schedule (this was their ninth friendly), and a higher finish in the last world cup, the South Korean team fell to a Costa Rica "B"  squad on Saturday at the "Black Hole" in Oakland, California.

The Koreans dominated play, but were unable to convert this dominance into actual goals. Some shots were just of the mark and the Costa Rican goal keepers Jose Francisco Porras and Wardy Alfaro made a few excellent saves too.  Porras made a diving deflection off a shot from South Korea midfielder Lee Chun-soo less than a minute after Saborio’s penalty kick, while Alfaro knocked away two shots late in the second half.

In the 40th minute of the first half, Victor "El Mambo" Nuñez beat 2 defenders and was tripped in desperation by Kim Sang-sik.  Alvaro Saborio - "Sabo" - took the penalty shot.  His high hard strike to the upper left corner of the goal, where the Korean goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae had no chance to make any play on the shot.

South Korea will head to Los Angeles to take on Mexico on next Thursday, while Costa Rica will take things easy until their second, and at this point final, warm up scheduled for March 1st in Tehran, Iran.  Yes, this is the same Iran that being pressured by the international community to stop manufacturing weapons grade uranium.

Local analysts where happy with the victory, while criticizing the team as conservative and lacking options to create goal scoring opportunities.