- February, 14 2007 -
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Late goal gives Panama 1-0 victory
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 – Cuscatlán Stadium, El Salvador: A stunning strike less than five minutes from time by Alberto Blanco gave Panama a surprise win over holders and 5 times former Champions Costa Rica in the Copa de Naciones Digicel. Panama’s victory means Alexandre Guimaraes’ team top Group 2 having drawn with Honduras and defeated Costa Rica and will face Guatemala in the semi-finals. Despite tonight’s defeat, Costa Rica also qualify for the last four where they will face hosts El Salvador.
With Costa Rica already assured of a semi-final place and Panama needing only a draw to reach the next round, the game started with little urgency, each team making seven changes from their first game line-ups. In a first half of few chances, Los Ticos held the territorial upper hand without seriously threatening the Panama goal where Jaime Penedo, voted tournament’s best goalkeeper in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup, was making his first appearance in the Copa de Naciones Digicel. The closest Hernan Medford’s side came to scoring was on 38 minutes when Try Benneth, who was proving a constant threat on the right wing, shot just wide from the edge of the penalty area.
The second half started in a similar fashion to the first, Costa Rica enjoying the majority of possession without creating any clear cut chances while Panama were left to resort to a series of inaccurate long range shots. The first real chance of the game came for Panama on 60 minutes, ironically from a Costa Rica corner. As the corner was headed clear, Panama broke rapidly with Alberto Blanco feeding Gabriel Torres. Torres’s fierce right foot strike forced the first real save of the match, Alfaro diving to his right to turn the ball away. A second good Panama chance fell to Anel Canales 9 minutes later, the tall forward skillfully lobbing the ball over the Costa Rica back line but failing to find the target with his volley.
With Hernan Medford introducing Alonso Solis and Walter Centeno from the bench, Costa Rica found a renewed sense of urgency and almost opened the scoring on 75 minutes. A corner was played short to Carlos Hernandez whose powerful shot had Penedo beaten but was headed off the line behind for an unproductive corner.
Hernandez’s effort seemed likely to be the last opportunity of the game, both sides seemingly happy to play out the remaining minutes for a draw. But Panamanian midfield dynamo Blanco had other ideas. With only four minutes of normal time remaining, Blanco took a lay-off from Canales on the edge of the penalty area and curled an outstanding right foot strike beyond the reach of Alfaro for what proved to be the winning goal.
After a competitive group stage, the Copa de Naciones Digicel now reaches the knock-out phase of the tournament. Honduras will face Nicaragua on Thursday 15th February in the Gold Cup play-off, the winner clinching the last qualifying slot for CONCACAF’s premier competition in the USA in June. The Copa de Naciones Digicel semi-finals kick off on Friday 16th February with Panama against Guatemala followed by a clash that is guaranteed to see a full house and a cauldron like atmosphere inside the Cuscatlán Stadium when hosts El Salvador take on holders Costa Rica.
Panama: Jamie Pendo, Carlos Rivera (Luis Henriquez), Jose Torres, Roman Torres, Juan Perez, Alberto Blanco, Gabriel Torres (Reggie Arosemena), Victor Herrera (Rolando Escobar), Anel Canales, Amilcar Heriquez, Felipe Baloy
Costa Rica: Wardy Alfaro, Jervis Drummond, Freddy Fernandez (Michael Barrantes), Rolando Fonceca (Alonso Solis), Roberto Wong, Andy Furtado, Leonardo Gonzalez, Carlos Hernandez, Felix Montoya, Kurt Bernard (Walter Centeno), Try Benneth
