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COSTA RICA |
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Costa Rica Out Of World Cup Play; Coach
Blames Bench Scuffle For Loss Of Momentum
Although Costa Rica fought back to tie 1-1
against Uruguay in World Cup qualifying
play, it wasn't enough to continue on to
South Africa in 2010. Costa Rica coach Rene
Simoes blames the touch-line scuffle for
stealing the Tico's momentum at a crucial
point in the game.
Simoes questioned the motives of the
Uruguayan camera crew that got into a
scuffle with his bench players following the
equalizing goal buy Walter Centeno. The
scuffle between the Costa Rican bench
players nad the Uruguayan camera crew lasted
about five minutes.
Simoes said his team lost momentum from that
point on and couldn't move ahead in the
score that would have game them the edge to
move on to World Cup play.
“We didn’t have the malice that the
Uruguayans had. After we tied, the game was
halted when we were playing at our best. In
Costa Rica that malice doesn’t exist. If it
did, we would have done that against the
United States,” Simoes told the press after
the game.
The Costa Rica and Uruguay teams reached the
playoff after Uruguay finished fifth in the
South American qualifiers behind Brazil,
Chile, Paraguay and Argentina and Costa Rica
fourth in CONCACAF behind the United States,
Mexico and Honduras.
After losing on Saturday, the Ticos had to
have won the game by at least a two goal
spread to enter World Cup play.
The first half of the game was played
evenly, as both teams struggled to score
first. Although all the Uruguyans had to do
is hold off the Ticos from scoring their two
goal spread to move on, they fought
intensely.
It wasn't until late in the second half when
the battle really heated up.
Uruguay claimed the final spot in next
year's 32-team World Cup after Sebastian
Abreu gave Uruguay a 1-0 lead in the 70th
minute, and Walter Centeno levelled in the
74th.
Uruguay had most of the early chances
including dangerous strikes from Diego
Forlan and Nicolas Lodeiro, which forced key
saves from Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor
Navas.
Victor Nunez had Costa Rica's first
threatening shot after about 25 minutes.
Costa Rica's best chance until its late goal
was a shot by Cristian Bolanos from long
range that was turned away by Uruguay keeper
Fernando Muslera.
Uruguay seemed to have the World Cup berth
wrapped up after Abreu's goal, but Centeno's
quick strike gave Costa Rica hope and opened
up the match..
The game was held up for nearly five minutes
near the end because of fighting between a
Uruguay camera crew near the touchline and
the Costa Rica bench amid a nervous
denouement.
At the final whistle, the celebrations broke
out again as the Uruguayans, who won the
second of their world titles in 1950,
released their emotions at the relief of
having qualified.
Uruguay defeated Costa Rica 1-0 on Saturday
in San José, overcoming the difficult
artificial turf at Saprissa Stadium. With
Wednesday night's win, Uruguay will play in
its first World Cup since 2002.
Costa Rica has played in the last two World
Cups, the last in Germany 2006.
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