Print

Mail

wiki links

Costa Rica beat Guadeloupe in Miami

Costa Rica's Walter Centeno scored his third goal in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in a 1-0 victory over Guadeloupe on Monday night.

Centeno scored on a free kick in the 14th minute as his drive from 20m sailed past a wall of defenders and landed inside the right post.

The goal gave him eight career Gold Cup goals, a mark he shares with Landon Donovan and Brian McBride of the US for third in the tournament's history.

Goalkeeper Jose Francisco Porras made key stops in the second half to preserve the shutout for Costa Rica.

Centeno almost converted on another free kick in the 40th minute, but goalkeeper Franck Grandel jumped and stopped the 18m shot from the right wing area.

Rarely tested in the first 45 minutes, Porras stopped open shots from Aurelien Capoue and Michael Tacalfred in the 52nd and 56th minutes.

Porras also stopped Fabien Raddas' shot just outside the penalty area in the 89th minute in Guadeloupe's final attempt at an equalizer.

The game's physical pace resulted in brief shoving and pushing exchanges between the teams in the 72nd minute following a collision involving Guadeloupe's Loic Loval and Costa Rica's Victor Cordero.

Five Costa Rica and two Guadeloupe players were issued yellow cards during the match.

Playing with urgency from the opening minutes, Costa Rica pressured the Guadeloupe goal and nearly broke through in the 11th minute when Alvaro Saborio mistimed Michael Barrantes' cross from the right wing and sent his shot outside the box wide off the left post.

Guadeloupe's best scoring opportunity of the first came in the 26th minute when Porras stopped David Sommeil's shot near the box.
This story has been viewed 798 times.