by Rod Hughes

While all was anticipation last Saturday for the second and, as it turned out, final game of the “classic” National Soccer Championship in the First Division, the first game of the Second Division finals passed all but unnoticed, although victory means that the winner will be in the First Division in the coming season.
Guanacaste grabbed the advantage over University of Costa Rica (UCR) , with a 2-0 victory, part of it played under water—or nearly so. Now, Guanacaste province is dry, dry, dry in the dry season but, come May, when it rains it doesn’t fool around about it. So when a cloudburst hit at the scheduled starting time, the game was postponed. Then a power outage caused by lightning caused a further delay. Then the rain let up and the referee blew his whistle—and it started to rain again and went on for the next 25 minutes.
But the show must go on, although it was sloppy in Nicoya’s somewhat neglected Chorotega Stadium where drainage is, to put it charitably, awful. Much of the action appeared to be taking place in a giant child’s wading pool. It is what one might expect of a small town stadium in the tropical lowlands and First Division players can be excused if they root for UCR over the Guanacaste 11, just so they won’t have to play on the Nicoya Peninsula next season, where the climate ranges from extremely hot and dry to extremely hot and humid.
Two things should be clarified at this point: A. UCR is not made up of student players. Their roster contains such veterans as Bernard Mullins and Berny Scott who have played with first Division teams in times past. That’s just the team name. Don’t ask. B. This Guanacaste team is based in the same town, Nicoya, that sent a Guanacaste soccer club to the First division several years ago, where it played respectably. But, terribly underfunded, the franchise was bought by Escazu, a posh San Jose suburb, and became Las Brujas. We will hope that they have better backing in Nicoya than they had before.
Oh, yes, the goals. The first 20 minutes were dominated by UCR who may play better in weather that would drown ducks. Guanacaste gradually got better. The scoring did not open until the second half on a stupendous long goal kick by Jose Antonio Alemán. To put the frosting on the cake eight minutes later, Carlos Rodríguez made a fine penalty shot.
And so we look forward to the second meeting, this one to be played Sunday at Ecological Stadium. (Yes, Virginia, there is an Ecological Stadium. Welcome to Costa Rican nomenclature where the Culture Plaza in the capital plays host to hordes of male and female prostitutes at night.)