Nothing ‘Friendly’ About Mexico Victory
Mexico and Costa Rica brought their bitter soccer rivalry to Carson on Wednesday night with all the customary accoutrements: brutal fouls, a flurry of yellow cards and a bruising 90 minutes that resulted in a 2-0 victory for Mexico.
Playing in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 27,000 at the Home Depot Center, Mexico used first-half goals by Rafael Garcia and injury substitute Diego Martinez to defeat the Central American power in a “friendly” exhibition match that was anything but.
During a first half marred by 21 fouls and five yellow cards, Mexico central midfielder Gerardo Torrado was carted off the field on a stretcher in the 11th minute after an ugly collision with Costa Rica’s Ronald Gomez for a ball in the air. Torrado was treated for a cut to the head and did not return.
Coach Ricardo Lavolpe brought on Martinez, a standout on Mexico’s under-23 Olympic squad, to replace Torrado. Martinez scored from 16 yards in the 41st minute, taking a feed from Mario Perez and firing from just inside the right corner of the Costa Rica penalty area.
Mexico scored its first goal in the 13th minute, with Garcia beating Costa Rica goalkeeper Adrian De Lemos from seven yards on a volley from a right-sided cross delivered by Hector Altamirano.
Mexico received an outstanding performance from goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, who turned away point-blank attempts by Junior Diaz in the first half and Steven Bryce in the second.
The victory over Costa Rica was the 19th for Mexico in a series dating to 1935. Mexico holds an all-time record of 19-5-13 in the series, which has grown increasingly competitive during the last dozen years. Since 1992, Mexico’s record against Costa Rica is 3-2-5, including a 2-1 triumph by Costa Rica in Mexico City during qualification play for the 2002 World Cup.
Most recently, Mexico defeated Costa Rica in the semifinals of the 2003 Gold Cup, 2-0, last July. Both countries’ under-23 squads qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics, with Mexico eliminating the United States in the semifinals and defeating Costa Rica in the regional qualification championship game.
Lavolpe is 7-4-7 since taking over as coach of the Mexican senior national team in October 2002. Steve Sampson, former U.S. national team coach, is now 10-7-1 as Costa Rica’s coach.
