Los Angeles Soccer Cup : El Salvador Gains Final by Beating Costa Rica

A superb goal by Salvador Coreas in the final minute of play earned El Salvador a 1-1 tie with Costa Rica in the first match of the Los Angeles Soccer Cup Tuesday night at the Coliseum.

To the delight of a highly partisan crowd of more than 37,000, El Salvador then assured itself of advancing to Thursday night’s championship match against Mexico by beating Costa Rica, 4-3, on penalty kicks.

Mexico’s route to the title game was easier. It got past Guatemala, 2-1, in Tuesday’s nightcap, with Manuel Negrete and Carlos Hermosillo each scoring in the first 10 minutes.

The victory was particularly sweet for Mexico because it was Guatemala that had replaced it in the Seoul Olympics after Mexico had been ousted from international competition for two years for using overage players in qualifying for the World Youth Championship.

To Guatemala’s credit, it did not fold after falling behind so early, and Julio Rodas’ excellent volley from close range in the 19th minute closed the gap to 2-1.

The El Salvador-Costa Rica encounter was a strange affair, neither half bearing any resemblance to the other. The first 45 minutes saw some fine attacking play by both teams, and Costa Rica was lucky not to go into the locker room two goals down.

It narrowly escaped in the 26th minute when an El Salvador corner kick curled against the corner made by the crossbar and the left post, then bounced clear. And it was even more fortunate in the 42nd minute when Costa Rican midfielder Enrique Rivers kicked the ball off the line after goalkeeper Alejandro Gonzalez had been beaten.

Six minutes into the second half, referee Majid Jay called a foul on El Salvador’s goalkeeper, Ricardo Moro, a veteran of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, and Evaristo Coronado, the Costa Rican captain, scored on the resulting penalty kick.

Trying to protect its lead and run out the clock for the final 39 minutes or so proved a mistake, and Costa Rica paid the penalty. First, it had forward Hernan Medford ejected in the 65th minute for an off-the-ball retaliatory foul, one of a series in an increasingly rough and scrappy half, then it yielded the tying goal in the final minute.

From El Salvador’s viewpoint, it literally came not a moment too soon.