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Costa Rica, Panama win in
Central American Cup Semifinals
Favorite Costa Rica beat El
Salvador 2-0, while Panama had a
2-0 victory over Guatemala on
Friday in the semifinals of the
Central American Cup.
Costa Rica will face Panama in
the final Sunday.
Costa Rica attacked the home
team from the starting whistle,
with Rolando Fonseca firing an
unsuccessful shot on goal just
30 seconds into the game.
Their first goal came in the
10th minute when a Salvadoran
defender deflected a ball into
the air and Harold Wallace
headed on to the target.
Just two minutes later while El
Salvador were still recovering
from the shock of going a goal
down, Leonardo Gonzalez dribbled
passed two defenders and crossed
to Fonseca who smashed it into
the net.
El Salvador switched to attack
mode and made a brave effort to
come back into the game but
their offenses were soaked up by
a solid Costa Rica.
Ricardo Phillips scored Panama's
goal in the 50th minute,
dribbling through Guatemala's
central defenders and banging
the ball passed the keeper.
Felipe Baloy scored the second
goal with a penalty two minutes
into injury time after a foul by
a desperate looking Guatemalan
team.
Guatemala play El Salvador for
third place on Saturday.
During the Central American Cup,
five teams - Costa Rica, Panama,
El Salvador, Guatemala and
Honduras - have also qualified
for the Gold Cup.
North American sides Canada,
Mexico and the United States
qualify automatically for the
Gold Cup, while Trinidad, Haiti,
Guadeloupe and Cuba claimed
their places at last month's
Copa Caribe in Trinidad.
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