Olimpia of Honduras won the battle, but lost the war as Puntarenas became the third Costa Rican team to beat them in the tournament finals.  The Puntarenas strategy of trying to avoid an early goal and maintain their 3-2 advantage failed, as Olimpia opened the scoring in the 13th minute.  Minor Figueroa fired a long range shot that Puntarenas goalie Shane Orio was able to touch, but the rebound off the crossbar was headed in by Brazilian Luciano Emilio, the leading scorer in the Central American tourney.

But the inexperienced Puntarenas side did not fold and was able to keep Olimpia from scoring again.  In the second half Puntarenas took control of the actions and created some good scoring build ups, but the expulsion of Michael Barrantes (2 yellow cards) allowed Olimpia to regain control and pressure the Puntarenas goal.

When regular time ended in a 3-3 tie, the teams went straight to the penalty shootout, where Olimpia suffered a collapse, only scoring 1 shot.

Olimpia: Danilo Tosello missed wide.

Puerto: Max Sánchez scored (0-1)

Olimpia: Gol de Arnold Cruz scored (1-1)

Puntarenas: Roberto Wong scored (1-2)

Olimpia: Shane Orio blocked Juan Pedro Yalet (still 1-2)

Puerto: Alvaro Guerrero scores (1-3)

Olimpia: Minor Figueroa shoots high and Olimpia loses.

After a 16  week regular season where  only 4 of the twelve teams were eliminated, the playoffs for the national soccer championship began Sunday.  In a marathon session, 4 games were played at different times between the  8 playoff teams.  The 1st place team from each group played the 4th place team from the other group while the second and third seeds also squared off.

Number 2 seed Puntarenas visited and beat Cartago  1- 0.

Number 1 seed Alajuela visited and beat Brujas 1-0.

Number 1 seed Saprissa visited and beat San Carlos 3-0.

Number 2 seed Heredia was the only home team to hold serve, beating Perez Zeledon 3-0.

The next games are Sunday December 3rd.

Olimpia of Honduras almost had their counter attacking tactic pay off, but Puntarenas was able to win 3-2 at home yesterday and can now go to Honduras next week with a slight advantage.

Puntarenas came out swinging, but was unable to score due to some good plays by the Olimpia defense. And, as often happens, Olimpia was able to score first in the 30th minute.  Their only scoring chance of the first half. Kurt Bernard of Puntarenas was able to salvage the first half for the home squad, equalizing the score in the 43rd minute after a lovely pass from Vicente Rocella.

For most of the second half it was more of the same.  Puntarenas possessing the ball and trying to work through the strong Olimpia defense.  And on a blistering counter attack the Honduran side saw their strategy pay off in the 75th minute.

But 2 minutes later, before they had time to get blue about their bad luck, the porteños were able to equalize after a foul shot from outside the penalty area, which was slightly altered by Alvaro Guerrero to beat the keeper.  In the rest of the game Puntarenas again had more ball possession, while the Hondurans lurked waiting for a counter strike.
Just when it seemed the Hondurans would walk away celebrating a tie, Guerrero put through a header as time was running out to give Puntarenas the victory.

The return match is next Wednesday in Honduras.

After remaining strong throughout the three days of the grueling Costa Rican mountain bike competition La Ruta de los Conquistadores, Colombia’s Leonardo Páez Sunday won first place in this 300-kilometer race beginning on the Pacific coast and ending in Playa Bonita, in the Caribbean province of Limón, according to a statement on the race’s official Web site.

Although Costa Rican Andrey Amador won the third stage of the race – a 120-kilometer stretch from the Caribbean-slope town of Turrialba to Playa Bonita — Páez captured the first place title.

Asked if the Ruta de los Conquistadores was the toughest race he’s ever competed in, Páez, who just won the Pan-American Mountain Bike title in Brazil, agreed with his opponents, “yes.”

U.S. competitive biker Jeremiah Bishop held a steady second place in the race until a hard fall near Turrialba Saturday left him with a nose and jaw fracture and unable to compete.

With Bishop out of the race, Amador and his Costa Rican teammates Federico “Lico ” Ramírez and Paolo Montoyo tried unsuccessfully to defeat Páez.

Although victory eluded Rodríguez, he told the daily La Nación that “to ride together with him (Páez) was an honor.”

Páez finished the race, known as the toughest in the world, in 14 hours, one minute, 52 seconds. Andrey Armador came in second place 24 minutes 41 seconds later, followed by Ramírez, fellow Costa Rican Déiber Esquivel and Italian Marzio Deho, according to the daily La Nación.

-Tico Times

Thomas Frischknecht, last year’s champion, remains the one to beat in the 14th edition of the  “Conqueror’s Route” mountain bike race.  The race goes from Jacó Beach on the Pacific Coast to Limón on the Atlantic Coast.  Following the routes used by the Spanish in Colonial times to transverse Costa Rica. This year there are 510 participants: 185 Costa Ricans and 325 foreigners.  The Swiss win last year got the attention of the mountain biking world, and this year more foreign athletes than ever before are competing.  They are also the ones to beat, as “Frischi” signals Leonardo Páez, of Colombia, Italian Marzio Deho and Gringo Jeremiah Bishop as his main rivals.

Day One (Friday): The caravan will leave Jacó and arrive at Ciudad Colón, a route of 97.5 kilometers. The micro climates will be Tropical Rainforest, Sub-tropical Rainforest, and Tropical Dry Forest. Time limit: 12 hours.

Day Two (Saturday): 6.7 kilometers from Terramall (Tres Ríos) to Aquiares. The environment is Cloudforest and Rainforest with drastic temperature and vegetation changes. Time Limit: 11 hours.

Tercer día (domingo): from Aquiares to Playa Bonita. Riders will pass through Tropical Rainforest, Sub-tropical Rainforest, and Tropical Wetlands. Time Limit: 12 hours.

Enjoy the ride!

El puerto, Futbol Club Puntarenas, has advanced to the Central American final against a club from Honduras, either Olimpia or Victoria.  In a tourney where the traditional Costa Rican powers were eliminated (Alajuela by Puntarenas and Saprissa by Victoria), Puntarenas has saved face and is now qualified for the North, Central American and Caribbean region tournament and hopes there to qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup by winning the title.

Puntarenas forged a solid victory here at home last week, winning 2-0.   Their Guatemalan opponent, Marquense, was not able to take advantage of the high altitude in their stadium to turn the tables.  The 0-0 tie on Tuesday was plenty for the “oranges” to advance to the next round.

Although the game went smoothly, the path to victory was definitely a trail they had to blaze.  Starting with the trip to Guatemala followed by a 284 kilometer bus ride to San Marcos on Monday.   The trip included a 2420 meter altitude change, which is why it was made so soon before game time, which is a way to avoid suffering the acclimitization process often utilized in Latin America.

After reviewing 5 finalists, the Costa Rican Football Federation named this week Hernan Medford as the new head coach of the national team for the eliminatories of the South Africa World Cup 2010.

Medford was hired as Saprissa’s head coach in 2003 by new owner Jorge Vergara. At that time Medford had recently retired as a player and had no coaching experience. Medford took to the coaching position like a pelican to diving and won two National Championships (2003-2004 y 2005-2006), one Central American Cup (2004) and one CONCACAF championship (2005).  Under his direction, Saprissa also placed 3rd in the FIFA Club World Cup last December (with 23 victories and a loss to English powerhouse Liverpool).

Medford took the position on the condition that he would be able to work his way. In the press conference naming him as coach, he vowed to work hard to win the World Cup in 2010.  “I want to be world champion with the Tricolor and in order to achieve that we must change: executives, players, coaches and the sports press.”

Medford went on to say, ” I am not a slouch, I set high goals and I want to fight in order reach the podium in a World Cup. I don’t know if I will make it, but if I set low goals for myself, then it would be enough just to go to South Africa. But this country deserves better. ”

One of the first new wrinkles for outspoken coach was the initiative to work once a week with the national team.  “I will concentrate on tactical preparation, since the rest the players do in their clubs. “  This work will begin in January and the Tricolor will not play any games prior to that time. And the new coach left no doubt as to who is the boss: “I will be the one who decides who gets the call, how the team will play and what games the team will play.”

Novedad

Medford anunció que a partir del próximo año trabajará una vez a la semana con los jugadores de la Selección Nacional

Local analysts and commentators are pleased with the decision.