by Rod Hughes
Costa Rica’s All-Star soccer team is the favorite to win the Gold Cup tourney, a step ahead of Mexico in an informal poll of fans conducted by the federation of soccer of North and Central America and the Caribbean, reported the daily La Nación today.
This comes as an important morale-booster for the Ticos who have never won the tourney. As of 6 p.m. Sunday, fans had given 28.27% of their votes to Costa Rica, edging Mexico with 28.20%. Surprisingly, the U.S. team was far back in number 8 of the 12 teams.
The closest Costa Rica’s beloved “Sele” (an abreviation of the Spanish word “selección“, meaning All-Star) has come to taking home the trophy was in 2000 when they went to the finals only to lose 2-0 against the U.S. team.
However, they have been champions of Central America in a tourney organized by a separate soccer organization, the last time in February.