by Rod Hughes

Saprissa stretched to 16 its string of “classics” (games with Alajuela) without losing but was only able to tie Sunday 1-1. But this was enough to send the “purple monster” to the final with Heredia in the Opening Tournament, which is actually the first half of the regular season.

Saprissa is in the finals, of course, by virtue of its previous 1-0 win over Alajuela the Wednesday before, making it 2 goals to 1 in the two game series. (Are you still with us?)

Meanwhile, in this period, Heredia was tying Brujas of Escazu in their two-game series before managing to win the last game 1-0 in overtime. For Brujas (formerly Guanacaste before the franchise moved to Escazu, it was a disappointment but established them as a power to reckon with in the First Division.

At least Alajuela did not disgrace itself this time, which may have been the greatest fear of coach Luis Diego Arnaez. In fact they acted like the tough opposent of yore, even after Ronald Gomez scored for Saprissa, assisted by Alejandro Alpizar at minute 24. They came right back 13 minutes later on Victor Nunez’s goal, generated with the help of Mario Viquez.

After that, in the second half, it was the usual fast interchanges of ball-theft and footwork one usually expects in a classic. Saprissa was not content with a conservative game but late in the second half gave Alauela goalie Wardy Alfaro several chances to show why he is considered one of the best in the business.