Costa Rica, directed by the Colombian Luis Fernando Suárez, achieved this Sunday a key victory for their interests by 2-1 against visiting El Salvador, for the penultimate date of the octagonal Concacaf final and continues to dream of qualifying directly for the Qatar-2022 World Cup. He already secured the playoff.
Anthony Contreras at 30 minutes and Joel Campbell at 45+1 scored the winning goals for the Costa Rican team.
Costa Rica will receive the United States on Wednesday in San José at the end of the qualifier, which grants three places to the Qatar-2022 World Cup and the fourth the possibility of a playoff against the winner of the Oceania qualifier.
This Sunday, Costa Rica, led by coach Luis Fernando Suárez, went on the offensive from the beginning of the actions over Salvadoran territory where the defense led by Bryan Tamacas and goalkeeper Mario González resisted.
Words of Suarez
“I have to highlight the work of the team, the commitment that they (the players) gave for the country. It gives me deep pride in leading a spectacular human group, a human group that gives everything for the country,” Suárez declared at a press conference. press.
The moment of triumph experienced by Costa Rica, which included finishing at home with Canada undefeated last Thursday, Suárez attributed it “to a job well done”, to the collaboration of the league and to the “unconditional support” of the Federation Costa Rican. Rather than think about the country he would face in the playoffs, Suarez indicated that he is “thinking about how to beat the United States” on Wednesday.
Panorama in the Concacaf
With a triplet by Christian Pulisic, the United States thrashed Panama 5-1 this Sunday and took a giant step towards the Qatar-2022 World Cup while the Central American team was left out of the fight for tickets. Christian Pulisic, the Chelsea striker, converted two penalty goals in the 17th and 45th minutes and another in the 65th, while Paul Arriola in the 23rd and Jesús Ferreira in the 27th also scored for the United States, while Aníbal Godoy discounted for Panama in the 86.
With this win in Orlando (Florida), the United States remains in second place in the Concacaf qualifiers with 25 points and has almost in its hand one of the three direct Concacaf tickets. Gregg Berhalter’s team just has to avoid a catastrophic thrashing (losing by 6 goals) on the last matchday against Costa
Rica in San José to celebrate the pass.
The leader Canada (28 points), a great surprise in the qualifiers, was the first to qualify this Sunday while Mexico holds the third ticket with 25 points.
Costa Rica, with 22 units, occupies fourth place, which gives the right to a playoff against a team from Oceania. Panama, for its part, remains in fifth place with 18 units and no longer has options to even reach the repechage quota.
AFP
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