Costa Rica Is a 3-1 Winner

Hernan Medford is 33 now, a little long in the tooth for an international soccer player and certainly for a forward. But the lone survivor from Costa Rica’s memorable 1990 World Cup team still commands a starting place, and on Wednesday night he showed why.

True, the penalty kick that he sent soaring into the night sky at the Rose Bowl, to the dismay of the Costa Rican fans, was not his finest moment.

But the 37th-minute faux pas was a momentary lapse, nothing more. Seven minutes later, the bald-headed Medford, a fast, powerful and crafty player, made up for the miss.

Taking a pass out on the right flank from midfielder Harold Wallace, Medford shrugged off a late-arriving South Korean defender and sent a perfect pass into the goal area.

There, teammate Ronald Gomez got to the ball seconds before defender Choi Jin-Cheul’s sliding tackle and Gomez first-timed the ball into the back of the net from about seven yards. Goalkeeper Kim Byung-Ji had no chance.

The goal was all Costa Rica needed to put it on the road to victory. Paulo Wanchope scored twice in a five-minute span in the second half and the Central Americans advanced to Saturday’s championship game of the sixth CONCACAF Gold Cup with a convincing 3-1 victory.

In the second game, the United States and Canada played to a scoreless tie in regulation and the match entered sudden-death overtime to decide the second finalist. The Americans had dominated play but could not find a way to beat Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld.

The Costa Ricans, who will play Brazil, China and Turkey in the World Cup this summer, appeared to be initially surprised by the speed of the South Koreans, but once they realized that the Asian side’s game is based on quickness and tenacity but lacks a finishing touch, they settled to the task.

That said, it should have been the Koreans who took the lead. For reasons known only to him, referee Rodolfo Sibrian of El Salvador did not call Costa Rican defender Mauricio Solis for a foul after he shoved down Choi Tae-Uk from behind in the 34th minute.

The South Koreans did not protest the non-call, but they were furious three minutes later when Sibrian awarded Costa Rica a penalty kick for an alleged hand ball after Wanchope had fired a cross directly onto the arm of defender Song Chong-Gug.

It appeared to be a case of ball to hand, rather than hand to ball, but the penalty award stood. Justice was served, however, when Medford blasted the ball high over the crossbar from 12 yards.

One minute before halftime, Gomez scored and it appeared Costa Rica would take charge in the second 45 minutes.

Instead, it was the South Koreans who battled back. Although they were the more determined team, the Asian side had a puzzling inability to put the ball in the net.

But Costa Rica scored twice on counterattacks.

Wanchope made it 2-0 in the 77th minute when he took a pass from Wallace and fired the ball at goalkeeper Kim, who got down to block the shot only to see the ball bounce off his body and into the net.

South Korea finally ended its scoring drought in the 81st minute when Choi scrambled the ball into the Costa Rican net while lying on the ground after his first shot had been blocked.

Wanchope answered within seconds, latching onto a pass and sending a rising rocket of a shot into he roof of the Korean net to secure Costa Rica’s place in the championship game.

“We are very happy,” said the team’s Brazilian coach, Alexandre Guimares. “We wanted to have a game like this, against a team that pushed us to play better, to show the quality of the team.”

The three World Cup-bound teams each face a far more significant tests in two weeks. The U.S. plays three-time world champion Italy in Catania, Sicily, on Feb. 13, the same day that Costa Rica plays two-time world champion Argentina in Miami and South Korea plays two-time world champion Uruguay in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Attendance showed a steep decline from the first four game days at the Rose Bowl. Those games drew a total of 117,895 fans, or an average of 29,473.

But with Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala all eliminated, the crowd dropped to about 10,000 Wednesday night.