by Rod Hughes

In a not exactly gripping exhibition game last night in Toronto, Canada, the home team held Costa Rica’s All Stars in handcuffs for a 1-1 tie.

In a time when the eliminations for the World Cup are approaching, these games serve both as a honing of teamwork and as a way sportswriters, with performance under a magnifying glass, use to guage probable winners. (Usually, they are wrong, but it keeps them off the streets.)

The fact is, neither team played their best, with Costa Rica especially bumbling and timid on attack, unlike their aggressive perfromance against Honduras. In fact, they made not a single attack on the goal in the first half! No doubt about it, Canada looked better, if not brilliant, attacking right up to the final whistle.

When Victor Nunez, with the aid of Junior Diaz, scored for the Ticos at the beginning of the second half, local fans settled back for a Costa Rican romp. But Canada was merely surprised. Nor was Costa Rica helped when Randall Azofeifa was (as the Brits say) sent off with a flourish of the red card. Ah, well, press on regardless…

At minute 53, Dwayne De Rosario tied it and that is where it lay. But Canada this time around is no pushover as it was in years past, so brace yourselves for some tough games in the World Cup eliminations.