by Rod Hughes

In a confused battle of goals that often alternated long minutes of formless tedium with furious seconds of formless frantic action, Saprissa dumped Carmelita, 4-3 Sunday in the soccer wars. Carmelita appear somewhat improved but continued its long journey into the depths of the First Division with yet another defeat.

What at times appeared to resemble more a dogfight than a soccer match ended dramatically when rookie Esteban Ramiriz blasted in the tie breaker for Saprissa just ahead of the game-ending whistle. Scoring began at minute 22 with Saprissa’s Armando Alonso feeding in a centering shot from Alejandro Alpizar. But two minutes later Carmelita’s Alejandro Gonzalez sent a penalty kick into the back netting.

This set the form of the game. Ronald Gomez put Saprissa up with a free kick to end the second half but early in the second Vargas made it 2-2. Saprissa’s Alonso was back again with 3-2 and then Carmelita’s Vargas replied. It was up to the young substitute Ramirez to salt down the win for Saprissa. Not a lot of brilliant play here but no spectator slept for long.