Costa Rica’s Win Over the U.S. Put them in 1st Place.

After recent defeats of the U.S. soccer team and Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica is the most likely team of the six countries in the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football Association (Concacaf) final qualifying round to make it to the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.

This past Saturday’s game against Trinidad and Tobago ended in a 3-2 victory for Costa Rica in the losing team’s home stadium on the island of Tobago thanks to two goals by Celso Borges in the second half of the game, the last one netted in the 68th minute of play. The win advanced Costa Rica’s score from 9 to 12, with the U.S. trailing with 10 points and El Salvador in third place with 5 after an unexpected and painful defeat of the Mexican team this past Saturday.

As it stands, the worst Costa Rica could do (with 5 straight loses in its final matches) would be to come in 4th place in the Concacaf qualifying round, giving the team one final chance to make it to the World Cup in a playoff match against the No. 5 team from South America. The top three teams in the North American and Caribbean division will go on to play in the World Cup in 12 months in South Africa.

According to a mathematician from the University of Costa Rica, after the results of tomorrow’s two matches between Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago, and Honduras vs. El Salvador, Costa Rica will have at least a 90% chance of making it to the World Cup. The best outcome for the Central American nation would be for both matches to end in a tie, giving Costa Rica a 98.17% chance of making it to the World Cup.

Costa Rica was able to pull ahead to 1st place after its June 3rd decisive victory over the U.S. National team in front of 19,200 fans in the Saprissa Stadium, nicknamed “the cave”. The Costa Ricans dominated the game from the beginning, with a goal in the first two minutes of play and a second within the next 15 minutes. The game ended with 3-1 on the scoreboard and a silenced U.S. team who came into it hoping for a win, despite having lost their past 5 tries in the notorious stadium. The two teams will meet once more in Washington this October in one of Costa Rica’s final 5 games en route to South Africa.

The remaining schedule for the Costa Rican selection is as follows:

Aug. 12 — 7:30 p.m. at Honduras
Sept. 5 — 8 p.m. home game against Mexico
Sept. 9 — 7 p.m. at El Salvador
Oct. 10 — home game against Trinidad and Tobago
Oct. 14 — at U.S.A. in Washington, D.C.

Photo courtesy of La Nacion.

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Filed under: Sports on June 9th, 2009