by Rod Hughes

Und zo, we come down the long 2006-7 trail to the quarterfinals leading to the National Soccer Championship. Who’s excited?
We will get to the opening games in a moment— games which Spanish-language sports columnists dismissed as about as fast-moving, gripping and suspenseful as a knitting tournament—but first a little history.
Time was when only 10 teams were in the First Division and everything was simple–They played throughout the season and then the top two teams met in a two-out-of-three series that capped the whole affair.
But, perhaps influenced by the NFL, NBA and MLB to the north, owners decided to cram in as many games as possible, expand the franchises a bit and and call the last half of the season a tourney in order to hype the suspense and earn more gate receipts.
And who can blame them, taking into account the financial anemia that seems chronic with many First Division teams? In the past 12 or 15 years, we have seen (1) half of the clubs’ owners nearly needing to pawn their dentures in order to pay their employer quotas to the Social Security (Caja), (2) the sports mecca for thousands of soccer fans, Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in Tibas, padlocked due to debt but bailed out by sale to a foreigner and (3) a very good Guanacaste team from Nicoya forced by indigence to transfer its franchise to Escazu (city of the witches) and become Las Brujas.
Now the opening games: The most puzzling was the 4-3 struggle between Heredia and Cartago where Heredia, at the last of the season the most consistent team in the Division, blew a 4-0 lead late in the game and nearly its win. Scoring began at only nine minutes into the game with Heredia’s Marvin Angulo followed by Jafet Soto, then a self-inflicted goal by Cartago and capped by Junior Diaz. Then it was Cartago’s turn as “Cocha” Alfaro, Jose Francisco Alfaro and Esteban Bolanos beat Heredia’s defense about the head and ears.
Alajuela was meanwhile cruising to a 3-0 win over San Carlos. Perez Zeledon and Puntarenas, La Brujas and Saprissa were all scoreless in two real snoozers.
And if you consider this report cruel, you should have read what the Spanish-language press said about the openers! “Who put the hex on good football?” moaned a headline in the daily Al Dia report on the Brujas-Saprissa game. And that was one of the kinder comments!