by Rod Hughes

Already leading the two game series on goals, thanks to their 1-0 win at Ricardo Saprissa Stadium, the big purple “S” won it all in Alajuela’s Morera Soto Stadium Sunday. Michael Barrantes salted down Saprissa’s advantage late in the second half of a fast moving soccer match that warranted the traditional name, “Classic.”

With but eight official minutes to play in an otherwise scoreless match, with the axe already hanging over Alajuela’s head, Barrantes, who had come on the pitch as Alejandro Alpizar’s substitute 10 minutes earlier, defied the intense pressure of a melee in front the the Alajuela goal to send a grass-cutter into the back net. A tribute to his aplomb was that he did not try to kill the ball but sent it hugging the turf. Alajuela’s fine goalie, Wardy Alfaro, was out of position but dove valiantly to his right, sliding across the grass on his side but the ball was already crossing the line a meter ahead of his out-stretched fingers.

Earlier, Saprissa had been excitedly lofting the ball over the horizontal, an old tradition with them. I call it the Tibas space program–aimed at sending the first soccer ball into orbit. But all Alajuela’s efforts—and there were many since they were in possession of the sphere for long periods of the match—were attacks that veered off to the right.

So the Barrantes bomb ranks with Armando Alonso’s great goal in the first match. It might be noted that the Alpizar mystique made Barrantes’s effort especially sweet since there was some trepidation when Alpizar exited the pitch at minute 72 aboard a stretcher. The feeling among some fans was, “What a blow to Saprissa. Barrantes is good, but he’s no Alpizar.” That shows the unwisdom of comparing people, in any context.

But Saprissa fans might be forgiven a certain amount of uncertainty. As midfielder Walter Centeno pointed out in a radio interview, injuries have plagued the club all season. Saprissa started out this year with a terrific winning streak and appeared invincible. After their win in the UNCAF international tourney over the Houston Dynamo, it appeared they would go all the way. But their losing streak had already begun in First Division play and continued when they blew the UNCAF final to the Mexican Pachuca club.

Centeno, with customary Tico understatement, referred to this amazing losing streak as having “lost momentum.” Since they had first come off a winning streak, the contrast was almost too intense to bear. But, talking of losing streaks, another one was all but ignored and it belongs to Alajuela. That club has lost the last 19 encounters with Saprissa and, historically, has lost 100 times to Saprissa over the years.

In this match the vaunted Alajuela attack that had been so effective against other clubs this year, proved a toothless tiger, despite spirit on the point of desperation. Winston Parks, Victor Nunez, Kenny Cunningham and Ignacio Aguilar all gave the illusion of effort but failed to make Saprissa goalie Keylor Navas work hard. except for one blast by Gabriel Badilla in the first seconds of the second half when Navas made a circus stop. Ref Walter Quesada gave them a generous injury overtime of eight minutes, to no avail.