by Rod Hughes
Costa Rica is out of the Gold Cup tourney after a 1-0 defeat by Mexico yesterday afternoon in Houston’s Reliant Stadium. But the Tico All-Star team ran the greenies ragged, despite being reduced to, first, 10 players, then nine, then eight.
Eight against 12. (We’re counting U.S. referee Terry Vaughn as playing on the Mexican side, with just reason.)
Of the three red cards Vaughn waved in the Costa Ricans’ faces, only the last one was warranted, against Mario Camacho. Granted Camacho was frustrated by then at having his team reduced to nine by spurious infractions while Vaughn repeatedly let the Mexicans off with obviously intended, overly rough play. But Camacho should have tended to the business of soccer as his teammates were doing–and doing exceedingly well.
After the first expulsion, Allan Aleman, in the first half, the Ticos forged on so well one often forgot that they were playing with only 10 as they attacked the opponent’s goal with spirit and skill, despite Vaughn’s selective blindness at Mexican infractions. Then, as if playing “then there were none,” Vaughn kicked out Alvaro Saborio as the second expulsion.
The Ticos forced the 0-0 game into overtime and not only defended well against all odds but were dangerous on offense as well. Here, one has to credit the spectacular stops of Tico goalie Jose Francisco Porras. Then, the inevitable had to happen. Mexico’s Jared Borgetti blasted one past Porras.
The Mexicans were outclassed as even the Mexican press admitted–amazing since that country’s sports press is so insufferable, gloating in victory and usually blaming losses on the weather, their team’s off day and, if all else fails, calling for the coach’s head. Never do they admit that the opposition had a superior team.
The Mexican paper Record called the Aleman expulsion for protesting a Vaughn decision, “extreme” and the paper Reforma praised the Ticos as being “competitive and dangerous” even when reduced to eight players.
Praise is merited by coach Hernan Medford who kept his cool during the entire game despite the provocations, although he denounced Vaughn’s officiating after the game. Medford has not always been the soul of forbearance, having been thrown out of games when he was Saprissa’s head coach.
We would like to point out that we are not quick to scream “We wuz robbed!” after a defeat, but Vaughn’s officiating ineptness should definitely be investigated by the organizers of the tourney, since it raises questions of legitimacy. More than one fan has speculated that the sponsors, knowing the vast number of Mexican expatriates in the southern part of the U.S. where the Gold Cup is played, might fear that attendance at the games would be drastically reduced if Mexico had been forced out in the quarter finals. We do not say that is any more than an expression of anger, but that suspicion should be laid to rest.