Costa Rica, Canada Advance in Gold Cup
Costa Rica took care of business and stayed alive in the Gold Cup with a 1-0 victory over Guadeloupe, and then Costa Rica coach Hernan Medford took journalists to task for suggesting that a victory, tie and loss in three first-round games at the Orange Bowl was a ''failure'' for a team with a World Cup pedigree.

Costa Rica had tied Haiti and lost to Canada heading into Monday's win-or-go-home match.

''I hope you ask me these kinds of questions when we win the final,'' said Medford, clearly miffed at the line of questioning. ``There are no small teams anymore. If you guys still live in a cave and think there are small teams and big teams, you're wrong. Football has changed.

``There are no small teams anymore. I said coming in that all three matches would be tough. You guys called us favorites, not me.''

La Selección, as Costa Rica's team is known by its fans, secured a spot in the quarterfinals with a 14th-minute goal off a Walter Centeno free kick. It was Centeno's third goal of this tournament and eighth in the history of the Gold Cup, which puts him in a tie with Landon Donovan and Brian McBride for the third-most goals.

''The most important thing is my goals gave the team confidence, and today, allowed us to advance to the next round, which was our goal,'' Centeno said.

Costa Rica and Guadeloupe finished with four points each, but Costa Rica got the edge in the head-to-head tiebreaker and secured the second-place spot. Canada beat Haiti 2-0 in the late game and won the group with six points. Dwayne DeRosario, who plays for the Houston Dynamos in MLS, scored both goals for Canada.

''My game is to create and score goals, so when I got a chance in the box, my main objective is to score, and that's what I tried to do,'' DeRosario said. ``The goalie came off the post anticipating a cross, and I hit it low as hard as I could.''

The top two teams in each of the three groups advance to the quarterfinals, and the top two third-place teams also move on. The third-place teams will not be determined until after tonight's games. If the United States beats El Salvador, Guadeloupe still has a chance to move on. The quarterfinals are in Foxboro, Mass., and Houston. The semifinals and final are in Chicago.

Costa Rica was under intense pressure to win Monday. The team entered the game in last place in the group. The tension was palpable, as Costa Rican players drew five of the game's seven yellow cards on a sloppy evening of soccer in front of a crowd of 15,892.

Medford insisted he was satisfied, although his team didn't dominate.

''In the first half, Costa Rica played very well, and the second half, the players couldn't be expected to keep the same pace, go 100 percent, when they were playing the second game in 48 hours,'' Medford said. ``They were fatigued.''

He called the 2-1 loss in the opener to Canada ''a 20-minute mistake,'' explaining that the team played well, except for a second-half letdown during which Canada scored the go-ahead goal.

''That 20 minutes was the only crisis we faced,'' he said. ``The Haiti game was a well-played match. I am happy with our team, and believe we'll improve as the tournament progresses.''

As for Guadeloupe, it is just happy to be here.

''We're not used to this type of competition, with game after game, and Costa Rica has more experience, so it was difficult for us,'' coach Roger Salnot said. ``We wanted two wins, and we got a win and a tie, but we set a new benchmark by playing in this tournament. There's a learning curve. We showed we belonged, but the more we participate, the better we'll get.''

Haiti, under new coach Luis Armelio Garcia, is in a similar situation. ''We did a lot of hard work, but there is a lot more work to do for us to reach where I want us to go,'' Garcia said.