Costa Rican National Football team wins

For the seventh time in consecutive years, the Costa Rican National team, affectionately known as La Sele reached the CONCACAF Gold Cup following a 3-1 victory against 9-man Guatemala. The game played on Sunday was the teams’ second victory in two days following on from their 3-0 win against Panama on Friday. Both games were played in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa.

The game against Guatemala guaranteed Costa Rica the Group B championship and means that they will travel to the USA in July to compete in the Gold Cup. Other teams to have qualified for the tournament include the USA, Mexico and Canada from North America whilst Jamaica, Grenada, Guadeloupe and Cuba make up the Caribbean teams. Honduras also join Costa Rica from the Central American zone after having finished top of group A whilst three more spaces are also up for grabs.

Goals from Alvaro Sanchez, Herrera and Robert Segura ensured that Costa Rica overcame a Guatemalan side that saw two red cards and a penalty saved by Costa Rican goalkeeper Ricardo Gonzales. The result means that Panama and Guatemala will play one another on Tuesday to decide who takes second place in Group B and joins Costa Rica in their summer trip to the States.

The Costa Rican National team have now won their last nine international games having not dropped a point since drawing June last year when they drew 2-2 with Grenada. Next month they are back in action with a World Cup Qualifier against Honduras. The tie is expected to be a tough one for La Sele with Honduras being ranked seven places higher than the Costa Rican national team in the FIFA rankings.

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Filed under: Sports on January 26th, 2009