March 23 – In front of a packed house of mainly Honduran fans at the Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, Costa Rica beat their Central American rivals 3-1 to take the final slot at this summer’s Copa America to be played in the US.
It was a frantic and entertaining encounter with both sides having opportunities and no shortage of commitment.
In a match that saw a wonder goal from Hondurans, it was the Costa Ricans with two long range strikes of their own within five minutes of each other in the second half that won the day and the summer prize.
It also keeps Costa Rica amongst the region’s leading nations as they rebuild with a younger team and without the legends of their recent past.
Honduras lost on penalties against Mexico in the Nations League which left them with a last chance play-in for the Copa America 2024 against Costa Rica who had lost to Panama.
They came into the match with high expectations and a desire to return to former glories but were without six players would have been automatic starting selections if they had been available. Primary among them was Alberth Elis.
Costa Rica are in a rebuilding phase but the expectation of competing at the top of the Concacaf tier is very much there with a younger team that is bedding in.
Costa Rica lined up 5-3-3 and Honduras 5-2-2 in a frenetic start to the match.
Either side could have had the lead early on but it was Honduras with some specatular individual skill on 9’ who grabbed it.
A ball from the right into Jerry Bengtson in the Costa Rica box saw him touch the ball back with the outside of his boot to an incoming Michaell Chirinos who hammered his shot low from the edge of the box into the left corner of Keylor Navas’ goal.
Costa Rica equalised 3’ later. Jonathon Rougier in the Honduras goal failed to gather a free kick by Jefferson Brenes that fell into the path of an incoming Orlando Galo who hit home – 1-1.
Honduras were living dangerously at the back, giving the ball away too…
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-03-24 01:40:41
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Author : soccernews
Publish date : 2024-03-24 01:56:24
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.