The Copa Centroamericana (CCA) is the biannual Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol (UNCAF) tournament which decides which Central American teams will advance to the following year’s edition CONCACAF Gold Cup; the top four finishers in the seven-team tournament automatically qualify, while the fifth place side advances to a playoff against the fifth place finisher in the Caribbean Cup to decide which team will advance. For the first time in the CCA’s history, the tournament will be held outside Central America as four United States cities host Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The group stage opened with a triple-header at RFK Memorial Stadium in Washington, DC, the home of Major League Soccer’s DC United. Panama are the only side not to compete at this venue, as the tournament now moves West to Houston, Dallas, and Los Angeles. Costa Rica are strong pre-tournament favorites after their quarterfinal appearance in this year’s World Cup, but familiarity among the central American teams and improving talent in the region make this competition a true litmus test of whether the Ticos have truly joined Mexico and the United States in the upper echelons of CONCACAF play.
Costa Rica vs. Nicaragua
Costa Rica took their usual tempo of play up a notch against Nicaragua, hoping to take an easy first step to their eighth CCA title. Despite thehigh pressure, only a penalty kick goal from Costa Rican captain Celso Borges separated the sides at halftime. The call was made after a Nicaragua handball in the box in the 38th minute of a half that saw several inaccurate crosses from the Costa Rican wingers, and half-hearted counterattacks from the Nicaraguans. The best chance of the first half came off a Costa Rican long ball over the Nicaraguan defense in the 19th minute; Marco Ureña tried to lob the ball over the Nicaraguan keeper, but couldn’t get to the ball in time to avoid a deflection and clearance. Nicaragua could have finished a beautiful equalizer off a counterattack late in the half, but the forward couldn’t do better than send the ball barreling 20 feet over the goal. At 3 shots to Costa Rica’s 12, Nicaragua would have needed to have been surgical in their finishing to equalize before the halftime whistle.
Things didn’t start off much better for Nicaragua in the second half, as Marco Ureña scored the Ticos’ second goal in the 49th minute; Costa Rica appeared to be coming alive. The match evolved into the Costa Rican midfield winning most aerial challenges and playing the ball down the wings at the Nicaraguans’ bunkered back-eight. By relying on the counterattack while ceding the midfield, Nicaragua’s chances were few and far between; they were able to spring a menacing counter in the 59th minute, but their two-on-two breakaway was broken up in the penalty box by Johnny Acosta. When playing on the counterattack teams cannot afford to be trigger-shy close to goal, and Nicaragua fell victim to a lack of finishing instinct. By the 60h minute, the half began to settle into the midfield and a series of attempted breakaways off of turnovers. While Costa Rica continued to prefer playing down the wing, Nicaragua relied on individual efforts against the heart of the defense. Johan Venegas scored the game’s third goal, essentially putting the knife in the Nicaraguans’ hopes. Costa Rica were able to cruise to 6-0-0 all-time against the Nicaraguans.
Once the Ticos were able to break out of an early slumber, they looked dangerous against inferior central American competition and should easily remain the tournament favorite. It will be interesting to see how they’ll be tested by Honduras going forward, if at all. After the World Cup, Costa Rica have managed to gain a lot of respect and carry a certain aura of inevitability into this tournament. Anything less than a win would cast their quality into doubt and generate talk of their admirable performance in Brazil being a once-in-a-lifetime fluke. For the sake of CONCACAF and the Ticos, North American fans should hope that is not the case.
Honduras vs. Belize
Honduras dominated the possession from the get-go, passing the ball easily around the Belizean players. They already had four or five chances by the time the 5th minute had rolled around, and the fouls against Belize in their defensive third did not make for a promising 90 minutes for the Belizean Jaguars. Honduras nearly pulled ahead off three shots in the 15th minute from the 6, as the forwards made sloppy work of a cross, which the Belizean keeper and defenders deflected twice before Honduras could force a corner. Throughout the first half, Belize were unable to maintain possession or string together more than three passes before needlessly giving up the ball to an Honduran midfielder, often within 25 yards of their own goal; it is difficult, if not impossible, to win a match against any team without holding onto the ball. Honduras did give Belize opportunities to score off their own errors, including a failed back pass to the keeper in the 21st minute that resulted in a corner kick. The Hondurans got right back to business thereafter. Two Belize own goals in a span of five first half minutes saw Honduras take a 2-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Honduras opened the second half as dangerously as they closed the first, applying heavy pressure to the Belizean defense and nearly scoring off a cross in the 49th minute, as well as off a free kick from 30 yards in the 50th. The Belizean side’s frustration became obvious shortly thereafter, as they spent the rest of the half fouling the potent Honduran attackers at every opportunity. By the end of the second half, Belize had amassed (a number) of fouls. Were it not for Belizean keeper Woodrow West’s heroics, the Honduran side could’ve won in a seven-goal rout.
Belize are simply not in the same league as Honduras, let alone Costa Rica; if Honduras wants to pose any threat to the tournament favorites, they will have to finish their chances on goal. No Honduran player managed to score throughout this entire match, essentially making this a Belize loss and not a Honduras win. Had the Jaguars’ defense played a more composed game, this fixture would have surely ended in a 0-0 tie. The components that could challenge a talented Costa Rican side are there, but finesse is lacking in this squad. That Honduras–the most recent winner before Costa Rica in 2013–likely poses the biggest threat to the Ticos should cause Costa Rican fans to breathe a sigh of relief.
El Salvador vs. Guatemala
In an exciting match that saw RFK stadium at it’s highest attendance on the night, Guatemala pulled off a 1-2 victory against La Selecta. The Seattle Sounders’ Marco Pappa scored a brace; it was enough for Guatemala to continue their good run-of-form against a South American rival, having won two of their last three meetings dating back to 2010. Both teams went at each other from the opening minutes of the match, with El Salvador nearly opening the scoring in the 7th minute off a shot from the 18 by defender Ibsen Castro. Guatamala had chances of their own in the opening minutes, sending the Salvadorian defense into a frenzy on a blistering counterattack in the 15th minute. Guatemala would capitalize in the 25th minute to open the scoring. It was at this point that the Guatemalans began to try to shut El Salvador down offensively by forcing them out of the wings and compressing them vertically.
The second half was more of the same, with the Guatemalans jumping ahead to a 2-0 lead in the 56th minute. About ten minutes later in the 68th minute, El Salvador brought a sense of urgency to the match as Minnesota United’s Rafael Burgos pulled one back and gave the match new life. Despite the offensive flurries of both teams to close out the match, the scoreline would remain 1-2 for a Guatemala win to open the CCA. Both teams’ defenses were able to neutralize numerous scoring chances, and Guatemala in particular could pose an interesting challenge for Costa Rica should they meet in the first or third place match.
RFK’s Usual Funny Business
The matches were captivating in and of themselves as the stadium began to fill up throughout the night as the matches drew on. By the time the El Salvador-Guatemala match was scheduled to begin at 9:30pm EST, the stadium looked more pack than it is for MLS matches despite opening the 400 and 500 level seats to ticket buyers. At Last Word on Sports Footy, we’ve joked in passing that RFK stadium could not support a triple header of central American teams; we were nearly proven wrong, but the final match proved too much for the press box and concrete fell from the sky (much to the amusement of anyone who has been following DC United’s quest for their own stadium in Washington, DC).
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @LWOSAlec.
Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands of fans at /r/football.
