by Rod Hughes
Costa Rica’s All-Star soccer team is off to Houston to play its second round opener in the Gold Cup competition, having been nearly been sent home early. The Ticos chipped out a hard victory last night, 1-0, against Guadalupe, on Walter Centeno’s third goal of the tourney.
First a word about Guadalupe, new to Gold Cup tourneys. The word is: IMPRESSIVE. The team from the tiny Caribbean island country led Group A and its only loss was last night where they ran a resurgent Costa Rica ragged on the field, so much that the Ticos were plainly exhausted two-thirds of the way through the second half.
It was, unfortunately, also a rough game and the referee nearly lost control of the game as tempers flared more than once. In fact officiating was not up to the standard one should expect of an international tourney, with the ref ignoring a clear penalty foul on what should have been Costa Rica’s second goal.
So Costa Rica’s Group A wound up with Canada, after yesterday’s win over Haiti, in first place, the Ticos second and Guadelupe third. It was a wild time, with Canada defeating Costa Rica, then falling to Guadelupe, which in turn got beaten by the Ticos. Haiti goes home, taking with them probably the best goalie in the tournament.
Ticolandia Sunday will play either Mexico, Cuba, Panama or Honduras–but without Walter Centeno whose yellow card means he will be watching from the bench. This is a blow to Tico hopes but perhaps will mean a bit more focus, knowing they cannot depend on just one player to see them through.
Centeno has shown himself a real star under pressure but he has one fatal defect that has got him repeatedly into trouble while playing the regular season with his Saprissa club: anger. When the going gets rough, he roughs back. He is short and solid but not large–except for his mouth which has been known to provoke not only opponents but officials.
An old saying in Latin American soccer is, “He who gets mad, loses.”