by Rod Hughes

Sometimes the best soccer matches in the country are not between those perennial powerhouses, Saprissa and Alajuela, but way down in the cellar. And so it proved Sunday when Cartago met Santos on the latter’s home pitch in Guapiles and they struggled to a 1-1 tie.

La Nacion sportswriter Roberto Garcis called the match “wrestling on the edge of the abyss” because both clubs are in danger of being dropped from the First Division soccer. It had all the drama, protests to the referee, suspense with a missed chance of as millimeter…

The first half went by scoreless and Cartago had not even a sniff of a clear chance. Then, at minute 66, Leornardo Madrigal, who had substituted for Jose Francisco Alfaro early in the first half, blasted one in on an assist by Leonardo Ocamica. Ten minutes later, Brazilian Eneas da Conceicao evened it up on a pass by Yeinor Santamaria. Cartago continued its attack and the pressure resulted in Santos defender Porfirio Lopez touched the ball with his hand.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Cartago’s Alexander Calvo placed the ball carefully for the penalty kick—and hit the horizontal bar. Despite an unusually long injury overtime (10 minutes) neither side seemed able to recover from that moment.

Other matches: Liberia 1, Perez Zeledon, 0 Liberia edged closer to the quarter finals of the so-called summer tournament by beating Perez Zeledon 1-0, placing the club now only a point behind that same P-Z club and Brujas of Escazu. They need only to beat Santos next Sunday.

The Guanacaste club’s goal came early in the second half when William Sunsing scored after the defenses of both clubs appeared invincible during the first half. Liberia goalie Alvaro Mesen stole the tying goal from Alexander Sequeira with only six minutes of play left.

Punarenas 1, San Carlos 0

Dario Delgado’s minute 54 goal on an assist from Jose Macotelo also put Puntarenas mathmatically within shooting distance of the quarter finals. It was obvious that Puntarenas, playing before the home crowd, was up for the match but was unable to score during the first 45 minutes.

As for San Carlos chances for the quarterfinals—well, you might try praying for a miracle…