Costa Rica have advanced to the final of the UNCAF Nations Cup, but their semifinal match against El Salvador has finished in bizarre fashion. El Salvador were reduced to ten men in the 14th minute when Alexander Escobar received a straight red card from Panamanian referee Roberto Moreno for elbowing Costa Rican midfielder Pablo Herrera. The commentators on ESPN Deportes did not think that Escobar had actually thrown an elbow, but in the end he was gone, and Salvadoran playmaker Eliseo Quintanilla was booked for protesting Moreno's decision. That would be a critical moment for El Salvador.
[UPDATE 1940: I just saw some video highlights, and it was a harsh challenge but I couldn't tell if there was an elbow involved. At least a yellow, but a red I'm not sure about.]
Costa Rica took the lead through Andy Furtado's goal on 18 minutes, and then Quintanilla managed to get himself sent off seven minutes later. Trying to win a penalty, he dove flailed inside the penalty area but his only reward was a second yellow card. Why the captain and playmaker, already on a yellow card, would attempt to fake a foul in the penalty area is beyond my understanding.
Carlos de los Cobos made two substitutions at halftime which, combined with a substitution made in the 20th minute, exhausted all of El Salvador's substitutions. Five minutes later one of their players pulled up lame and had to withdraw, then five minutes after that two more players had to be carried off on a stretcher. The match can't continue if there are less than seven players on the field, so the match was finished.
The Costa Rican press is going ballistic right now, calling El Salvador's performance "shameful" and doubting the veracity of the Salvadoran players' injuries. It looks like Costa Rica may be awarded a 3-0 victory, but I'm not sure.
The next semifinal, between Honduras and Panamá, should start in about 15 minutes (0200 GMT).
The referee is a BITTER Panamanian who is STILL upset El Salvador eliminated his country from World Cup Contention last June. We NEVER stood a fair chance in this game with that referee...and his was blatant too...he gave the Red cards in a short span of time.
But it's all good, at the end of the day, El Salvador is still in the Hexagonal, while Panama is in ruins and lament over wasting their golden generation.
Posted by: PSquared | January 30, 2009 at 10:33 PM
LOL.... the referee has no bussines in the fact that El Salvador had a really bad performance, what are the chances, 3 injuries in 5-10 minutes? almost impossible... i've visited other blogs and in all blogs is the same... the referee is black and costa ricans are too, the referee is having a personal payback... c'mon! stop that horseshit and face it... El Salvador is not in his best soccer moment, and if this team is the definitive 11, i doubt El Salvador has a chance to get into the first 4 at the hexagonal
Posted by: JAGD | January 31, 2009 at 03:43 AM
Well, the foul looked pretty serious and Quintanilla's attitude is well known all around the region (lol).
Fake or real injuries, these men won't be able to keep it up in the hexagonal. They will leave the games as well, And those matches will be fast paced.
Yeah, definitive 11? Then definitive defeat.
Posted by: LightKnight | January 31, 2009 at 04:31 AM