The selection of Costa Rica defeated visiting The Savior 1-2 in a tough duel in which he showed his experience and allowed him to maintain the advantage over Panama in the fight for fourth place in the octagonal final of the Concacaf qualifier. The Ticos got the three points from the Coloso de Montserrat with goals from Anthony Contreras and Joel Campbell, and managed to add 16 of the last 18 points played.
Those of Luis Fernando Suárez bet from the beginning to put pressure on the Selecta in their exit and to venture with speed on the Salvadoran left wing.
Contreras led the Costa Rican victory in the 30th minute with a Chilean goal after a poor clearance by the Salvadoran defense, but it didn’t take long for the Salvadorans to equalize the score. Striker Cristian Gil, of Colombian origin and naturalized Salvadoran, debuted his goalscoring record with the Selecta by beating Keylor Navas in the 31st minute.
The added time of the first half was played when Keysher Fuller crossed the Salvadoran left wing, one of the weak points of the locals, to put in a center that Joel Campbell closed for 1-2.
For the second half, the Ticos put the lock on and fell back on defense to try to maintain the lead and take advantage of some counterattack. The visitors also showed the experience and skills of their veterans, such as Bryan Ruiz, to not miss the three points.
The Salvadorans freshened up their attack and controlled the ball for most of the second half, which was not without controversy. The fans and the Salvadoran national team complained to the referee for not reviewing the VAR for the falls in the visiting area by Gil and Bryan Landaverde in the 56th and 71st minutes, respectively.
The Costa Rican team is fourth with 22 points and maintains its place in the World Cup playoff against a team from Oceania, waiting for Panama to stumble. El Salvador, eliminated, remains in sixth place with 10 points, ahead of Jamaica and Honduras.
On the last day of qualifying for Concacaf, next Wednesday, Costa Rica will host the United States and El Salvador will visit Mexico.
DATA SHEET
1 – El Salvador: Mario Gonzalez; Rómulo Villalobos (m.46, Eriq Zavaleta), Bryan Tamacas, Roberto Domínguez (m.14, Ronald Gómez), Alex Larín; Kevin Santamaria (m.61, Narciso Orellana), Christian Martínez, Jairo Henríquez (m.76, Joaquín Rivas), Bryan Landaverde, Kevin Reyes and Cristian Gil (m.76, Styven Vásquez)
Coach: Hugo Perez
2 – Costa Rica: Keylor Navas; Juan Pablo Vargas, Keysher Fuller (m.73, Carlos Martinez), Kandall Waston, Francisco Calvo; Yetsin Tejeda, Bryan Oviedo (m.90, Ian Elijah Lawrence), Celso Borges (m.72, Orlando Galo), Anthony Contreras, Alonso Martínez (m.46, Bryan Ruiz); and Joel Campbell (d.82, Johan Venegas).
Coach: Luis Fernando Suarez
Goals: 0-1, Anthony Contreras (m. 30); 1-1, Cristian Gil (m. 31); 1-2, Joel Campbell (d. 45+1)
Referee: Jamaican Daneon Parchment admonished Reyes and Larín
Incidents: Match of the 13th day of the octagonal final of the Concacaf qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup played at the Cuscatlán stadium, in San Salvador
