A campaign that started by promising much ended yesterday by disappointing many when the Golden Jaguars crashed to a 0-7 defeat in their final group B game of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers at the Estadio Nacional, San Jose, Costa Rica last night.
It was a sorry end to the Golden Jaguars 2014 World Cup campaign. The defeat meant that the Golden Jaguars ended with the unenviable record of not winning a single match of their six Group B qualifying games against Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica. The Jaguars lost five of those matches with their draw against Costa Rica in Costa Rica, the highlight of their campaign. They ended the tournament with one point. The win places Costa Rica firmly into the next round along with Mexico the runaway winners of the group with 18 points from six wins while Costa Rica placed second with 10 points.
The win sealed a place for Costa Rica in next years’ CONMEBOL final stage qualification for the 2014 World Cup competition in neighbouring Brazil along with Mexico, the USA, Jamaica, Panama and Honduras. The margin of defeat could have been much bigger – not that it mattered – but Costa Rica’s Alvaro Saborio missed a penalty seven minutes from full time.
Saborio could have had a hat-trick after scoring from the penalty spot in the 51st minute and then netting Costa Rica’s final goal in the 76th minute.
Earlier, Costa Rica jumped off to a 2-0 lead with goals from Randall Brenes in the 10th minute and a 14th minute strike by Cristian Gamboa.
At half time the score was 2-0 in favour of Costa Rica.
Three minutes after the resumption Brenes scored his second goal but the flood gates really opened up after Walter Moore who had been given a yellow card in the 38th minute was sent off by the referee with Cristian Bolanos scoring in the 60th minute and Celso Borges in the 71st minute.
In a game that kept the officials busy Guyana’s Jamaal Smith was booked in the 81st minute, Guyana’s Daniel Wilson came off the bench to replace Kester Jacobs in the 82nd minute while Treyon Bobb received a yellow card in the 35th minute. There were also numerous changes with Yeltsin Tejeda replacing Cristian Bolanos in the 74th minute, Joel Campbell replacing Randall Brenes in the 68th minute, Borges replacing Allen Guevara in the 58th minute. For Guyana, Brandon Beresford had come off the bench to replace Vurlon Mills in the 74th minute and Colin Nelson replaced Treyon Bobb in the 57th minute.
The Guyana starting line up :-Derrick Carter (GK), Nicholas Millington, Walter Moore, Ricky Shakes, Dwain Jacobs, Gregory Richardson, Charles Pollard, Vurlon Mills, Kester Jacobs, Treyon Bobb, Jamaal Smith.
Substitutes, Ronson Williams, Brandon Beresford, Dwight Peters, Anthony Abrams, Daniel Wilson, Colin nelson, Shawn Beveney. Coach Jamaal Shabazz.
Costa Rica: Keilor Navas, goalkeeper, Cristian Gamboa, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Cristian Bolanos, Alvaro Saborio, Michael Barrantes, Bryan Oviedo, Allen Guevara, Roy Miller, Randall Brenes, Jose Luis Cordero.
Substitutes: Michael Umana, Pablo Salazar, Keilor Soto. Celso Borges, Joel Campbell, Pedro Leal, Cristian Lagos, Yeltsin Tejeda, Patrick Pemberton, Rodney Wallace, Leonel Moreira.Coach Jorge Luis Pinto of Colombia.
