DALLAS: Costa Rica and Mexico cruised into the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup after convincing victories on Sunday.
Striker Alvaro Saborio scored twice to help Costa Rica thrash Guadeloupe 5-1 while Mexico’s Miguel Sabah got two in his team’s 4-0 win over Haiti.
The pair will meet in the semifinal in Chicago on Thursday. The United States meet Honduras in the other semifinal.
More than 80,000 were present to watch the first sports event at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium and the venue was given a fitting opening with a superb opening goal from Costa Rica.
A stunning overhead kick from Celso Borges put the Costa Ricans ahead in the third minute - the striker producing an acrobatic finish to an Armando Alonso cross.
The lively Alonso created Costa Rica’s second when he crossed to Saborio who smartly headed home in the 16th minute.
Costa Rica took firm control after the break with a goal from Andy Herron and although Guadeloupe pulled one back, thanks to Alexandre Alphonse, the outcome was never in doubt.
Saborio grabbed his second after racing on to a fine through ball from Borges to make it 4-1 and then Pablo Herrera completed the rout a minute from the end.
Sabah opened the scoring for Mexico, slotting home after Israel Castro’s penalty was pushed out by Haiti goalkeeper Jean Zephirin.
Giovanni Dos Santos then doubled the advantage with a magnificent strike from the edge of the area and after the break he turned provider, delivering the cross which Sabah headed home for his second and Mexico’s third.
An excellent Mexico display was rounded off when Dos Santos swung in a deep corner which substitute Pablo Barrera crisply volleyed home.
Bolivian boy of 12
makes debut
A 12-year-old boy made his first division debut in Bolivia, the youngest ever in South America, and strikers called Gutierrez scored hat tricks in Chile and Colombia at the weekend.
Mauricio Baldivieso, who turns 13 on Wednesday, came on as a substitute for the last nine minutes of Aurora’s match away to La Paz, a 1-0 defeat, in the Clausura championship at the weekend.
“I’m very proud, he’s got a lot of talent,” said the boy’s father, Aurora coach and Bolivian 1994 World Cup midfielder Julio Cesar Baldivieso.
Baldivieso senior, in the stands serving a suspension, was much less happy though with the rough marking by Henry Alaca that left his son in tears, calling the defender a criminal and slamming the referee for not booking him.
Media in Bolivia and neighboring countries said the previous youngest debutant in South American football was Peruvian Fernando Garcia, who was just short of his 14th birthday in 2001.
La Paz, who scored with an own goal by Ivan Huayhuata after half an hour, had Juan Pablo Fernandez sent off in the 62nd minute and Aurora’s Joe Escobar followed him to an early shower five minutes later.
On the first weekend of the Clausura championship, Apertura champions Bolivar beat Nacional Potosi 3-2, while The Strongest held runners-up Real Potosi 1-1.
Argentine central defender Alejandro Schiaparelli put Bolivar ahead after 20 minutes and Jair Reynoso and Ignacio Garcia scored further goals in the second half after Alfredo Jara twice pulled Nacional level.
Alex da Rosa scored twice in nine minutes in the first half and Damir Miranda two in seven minutes in the second to give 10-man San Jose a 4-0 victory over Blooming.
San Jose, who were third in the Apertura, had Alvaro Ricaldi sent off in the 52nd minute. Argentine Enzo Gutierrez scored a hat trick as Rangers, who finished one from bottom of the Apertura championship, upset Universidad de Chile 5-3 on new Argentine coach Jose Basualdo’s Clausura debut.
Universidad’s Uruguayan striker Juan Olivera scored twice, a penalty and a superb volley, as the champions fought their way back to level terms before Gutierrez completed his hat trick on the hour to put Rangers 4-3 up.
The dismissals of Rodrigo Rivera and Rodrigo Jara for second bookings between the 73rd and 78th minutes allowed Rangers to make sure of the points with a fifth goal by Pablo Vranjican in stoppage time.
Basualdo’s compatriot Hugo Tocalli got his first win in charge of Colo Colo, who beat La Serena 2-1, but Argentine-born former Spanish international striker Juan Antonio Pizzi, who succeeded Basualdo at Santiago Morning, saw his side lose 1-0 at home to Audax Italiano.
There was also a hat trick in the Colombian Clausura championship, scored by Chilean Julio Gutierrez whose Independiente Santa Fe side beat Boyaca Chico 4-2, playing against 10 men from the 14th minute.
Santa Fe took control from the start and Chico’s Johan Caicedo quickly landed himself in trouble with two bookings for a red card before Gutierrez gave the home side a 1-0 halftime lead.
Chico managed to turn the score round early in the second half with a free kick by Ever Palacios and a Julio Galicia goal after Yovanni Arrechea missed a twice-taken penalty for Santa Fe.
However, Gutierrez equalized in the 66th minute and Omar Perez added a penalty for a foul on the Chilean.
