Costa Rica maintained order and calm in the Azteca Stadium.
Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images
The Costa Rican national team, with an orderly defense, drew this Sunday a goalless draw with Mexico at the Azteca Stadium and kept his chances of qualifying for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
The result deprived Mexico of the opportunity to advance to second place in the Concacaf qualifiers and Costa Rica remained fifth, close to the reclassification zone. In the first half he had the greatest possession of the ball but it was of little use because the Costa Ricans settled well in the middle of the field, they stole seven balls and the defense planted well to leave the Mexicans without options.
The protagonists of the initial half were the goalkeepers, William Ochoa, from Mexico, and Keylor Navas, from Costa Rica, who were left with the only balls in danger of scoring in the first 45 minutes.
Costa Rica put together a counterattack in the 40th minute, which ended with a cross from Alonso Martínez to Celso Borges, whose shot was saved by Ochoa.
The only threat to the Mexicans was a free kick in the 45th minute charged by Héctor Herrera, saved by Navas.
In the second half, the Mexicans went all out on the attack and Costa Rica opted to maintain order and wait for a counterattack.
Luis Rodríguez put a cross into the area that was about to become a goal, José M. Corona missed with a header with everything in favor and Luis Romo crashed the ball into the crossbar, in the three clearest plays of the Mexican offense.
Colombian Luis Fernando Suárez, coach of Costa Rica, made changes to put together a line of five defenders, in a bid for a draw against a Mexico that insisted on seeking victory at home.
Mexico made numerous short touches looking for spaces in the area, but Costa Rica’s defense won the game and saved the tie.
With four games to go, Canada leads the tie with 22 points, followed by the United States and Mexico (18), Panama (17) and Costa Rica (13).
On the next date, the eleventh of the octagonal final of Concacaf, which will be played on February 2, Mexico will host Panama and Costa Rica will visit Jamaica.
- Datasheet:
Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa; Luis Rodríguez, César Montes, Héctor Moreno, Jesús Gallardo (Gerardo Arteaga m.63); Carlos Rodríguez (Orbelín Pineda m.46), Édson Álvarez (Luis Romo m.46), Héctor Herrera; Jesús M. Corona, Rogelio Funes Mori (Henry Martín m.63), Hirving Lozano.
Coach: Gerardo Martino.
Costa Rica: Keylor Nava; Keysher Fuller, Kendall Waston, Francisco Calvo, Bryan Oviedo; Alonso Martínez (Bryan Ruiz m.75), Yeltsin Tejeda (Daniel Chacón m.85), Youstin Salas, Celso Borges (Juan Pablo Vargas m.75); Joel Campbell, Gerson Torres (Jefrey Valverde m.63).
Coach: Luis Fernando Suarez.
Goals: There were none.
Referee: Said Martinez, from Honduras. He admonished Luis Rodríguez, Héctor Moreno; Adrian Martinez and Keysher Fuller.
Incidents: Match of the Concacaf qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, held at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, at 2,240 meters above sea level, before some 2,000 fans.
(Photos)
eldiariony.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.