by Rod Hughes (Note: Due to technical problems, we have been unable to tell you about Thursday’s championship game in which Saprissa tied 1-1. A few details of that match are contained in this story.)

Victory, thy name is Gabriel Badilla!
He was the one who made two goals in the closing 10 minutes of the match to send Alajuela home empty-handed.
Moreover, the championship is a tribute to a team that seems to play best under extreme pressure—and proved it the second year in a row. It is a team that played Sunday’s struggle with only 10 on the field after ace striker Alonso Solis was expelled after only seven minutes of play. (The red cards was for stupidly hitting Alajuela’s Cristián Oviedo—this from the star who has been coolly making goals all season.)
But more might be said of Alajuela, although fans of a losing side often blame the team or the coach. Alajuela gave it all they had and are like the New York Yankees of Costa Rican soccer, the winningest team of the 20th century and always the team everyone is gunning for.
Alajuela opened the scoring Sunday at only minute 13 on Pablo Herrera’s goal assisted by Victor Nuñez. Cristián Bolaños evened it up after an hour, assisted by Allan Alemán. But Alajuela’s answer came only four minutes later with Nuñez sending Alajuela ahead, assisted by Rolando Fonseca.
There it might have ended with an Alajuela win and two more games to decide the championship but for Badilla with 10 minutes to go.
He blasted in a goal from a pass by Alejandro Alpízar and four minutes later did it again with an assist from the always-reliable midfielder Walter Centeno. And Saprissa was still attacking when the clock ran out!
The Saprissa fans did a dangerous thing after Badilla’s second goal—they began celebrating with fireworks and chants. It worked out for them this time but it’s a bit of overconfidence that’s unwise when facing a team like Alajuela, their red and black striped jerseys barely containing their pride of a long tradition of championships…

Thursday’s Tied Game
Sunday’s game was a capper on Thursday’s 1-1 tie. Ironically it was the 10th “classic” (as Alajuela-Saprissa games are invariably called) in a row in which Alajuela has either lost or tied, an odd distinction for a club that dominated the last two decades of the last century.
Scoring did not begin until Alajuela’s Carlos Hernández took a serve from Cristián Oviedo and blasted it in to put Saprissa’s back up against the wall in the first half. From there it appeared in the second half that Alajuela was going to break the classic jinx.
But two minutes to go in regular time, a cool Victor Cordero took a pass from Walter Centeno and evened the score, setting up Alajuela’s downfall Sunday.
It’s never over for Saprissa until the referee blows his whistle and heads for the exit.