Costa Rica 2 - Mexico 1

Photo by Moises Castillo

San Jose was the site of Costa Rica's home match against Mexico.  Costa Rica had not won a home qualifier against Mexico since 1992, a string of five matches without a win.  A result for Mexico would see them avoid elimination, and a two-goal win coupled with a Honduras loss would put them into Brasil 2014.  Costa Rica were the superior side in the early going, but Mexico weathered the proverbial storm and the non-metaphorical rain storm.  Mexico created a golden opportunity off a Carlos Peña through ball to Oribe Peralta.  Two-on-one with the goalkeeper, Peralta pushed a pass laterally to Javier Hernandez, who swung and nearly missed at the open goal, forcing Peralta to tap in the miss while in an offside position.  Costa Rica were not feeing charitable on this night, so they added to the Mexican misery.  Hugo Ayala could not clear a ball out of defense cleanly due to the coverage from Cristian Bolaños.  The ball bounced in the box, and Ticos forward Bryan Ruiz headed a ball to himself before doing a 270-degree turn off two defenders to free up space.  Ruiz then scored the opening goal from eleven yards out.  Peña played another fine through ball forward, this time to Hernandez.  Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas came off his line well to tap the ball away from Hernandez, but Peralta received the rebound and blasted the ball in off the underside of the crossbar.  The half ended 1-1.

Not quite twenty minutes into the second half, the Ticos restored their lead.  Joel Campbell passed ahead to Christian Gamboa down the right flank.  Gamboa then crossed into the center of the box to a wide-open Alvaro Saborio.  Saborio easily redirected a header on frame to make it 2-1 in favor of the hosts.  Bolaños's shot for a third goal hit the post, leaving Mexico with hope of a draw to secure their playoff berth.  Mexico goalkeeper denied Bolaños late in the match, but it was not enough to get his team back in the match.  Costa Rica win 2-1 to leave Mexico in dire need of help from the United States of America in order to survive.

Goals
Costa Rica
Bryan Ruiz 26
Alvaro Saborio 64

Mexico
Oribe Peralta 29

Match Reports:
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/10/16/costa-rica-2-mexico-1-world-cup-qualifying-match-recap
http://fansided.com/2013/10/15/costa-rica-vs-mexico-final-score-el-tri-falls-ticos-2-1-still-advance-play/
http://www.goal.com/en-us/match/97780/costa-rica-vs-mexico/report?
http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2013/10/15/4843228/mexico-costa-rica-2014-world-cup-qualifying-final-score-result

Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCsAvNLnoXM