Saprissa Celebrates Championship
by Rod Hughes
Well, it was no real surprise, what with Saprissa going into the final match with a two-goal advantage from a 2-0 win over Herediam, but the boys from Tibas are the champions of the Opening Tourney by way of a 2-2 tie last night.
Soccer being the fast, ever-changing sport it is, perhaps we should not be so blase. We can remember a classic some years ago with Saprissa ending the second half with a comfortable 3-0 lead only to lose it against Alajuela, 4-3. Of course that was a Saprissa of young, talented but irratic players and this year’s model is ful of mature, steady veterans. Except in international play, where they still tend to fall apart unexpectedly.
It was a much more competent Heredia than in the first 2-0 match, as the 2-2 tie shows. But, perhaps it would have been a more resounding victory if the Saprissa fans hadn’t gone wild at minute 41 with the score 2-1 in their favor, setting off fireworks in celebration.and forcing referee Walter Quesada to call a halt and later add a whopping nine minutes overtime.
Nine minutes is an eternity in soccer, plenty of time for Felix Montoya to send a bullet into the goal’s back netting for the tie. Certainly, this was as unexpect as Try Bennett’s goal for Saprissa in the first half, after only two minutes, that signaled to fan that this would be a “purple” runaway. Then, at minute 33, the unfortunate Heredia player Jose Chan committed a self-inflicted goal. But as the half was ending, Marvin Angulo found the range against Saprissa.
With the goals by Angulo and Montoya (the latter a clear standout for Heredia) honor was served. Make no mistake that Heredia is a pushover–the fans in that town are no less soccer crazy than are Tibas or Alajuela. But through the years thay’ve been overshadowed by the Big Boys, Alajuela and Saprissa.
We’ll see if Saprissa can hold its dominance in the second half of the 2007-8 season. They have good balance between offense and defense and, in Jeaustin Campos, a fine field marshal but soccer is as fluid as a movie starlet’s passion.