The CONCACAF (The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) is in it’s final round of FIFA World Cup qualifying games.

The top three teams qualify automatically for the World Cup. One more can qualify if it wins a two-game playoff with the 5th place CONMEBOL (South America) team.  (I hope I have that right.  If not, let me know in a comment).

A particularly interesting game is coming up on June 3, 2009, when the USA team plays Costa Rica, in San Jose (Costa Rica).  (These are presently the top two teams in the final round).  The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 8:00 p.m., Costa Rica time.  (To find out what time that is where you are go to the Time Zone Converter Web site).

GO TICOS!

Here’s what one Costa Rican blogger says about soccer in Costa Rica:

Costa Ricans are big into soccer. Most of us received our first soccer ball before we could walk. I remember when we were in primary school we would use anything from a soccer ball to a paper ball we made during class or even an orange to play some soccer or “futbol” during our breaks.

Soccer can unite the country when the national team plays. Costa Ricans will watch any game from Costa Rican soccer to European soccer. Every game is a good excuse to sit down and relax watching soccer; even if the teams that are playing are from a different country.  

This past Tuesday May 26th, there was the national championship final game. It was not a tipical game because for the past 16 years either of the two bigger teams in the country, Saprissa and Alajuela, or both have played the National Champion serie. The final is played at two games one at each team’s home stadium.

For the first time in in 16 years neither Saprissa nor Alajuela played the final game. It was played in between Heredia (they won their last championsip in 1993) and Liberia Mia (the team was bought in 2007 and had never won a national title). This game had another interesting fact about it; Liberia Mia is owned by a business man from Costa Rica and his mother owns the Heredia team.

The first game of the series was played on Sunday in Liberia and it ended up tied at 0 goals. Heredia came to the second game as the favorite because they were playing at home and they are a more mature team than Liberia Mia. However, things were not as expected. First half ended with a 0 tied. But in the second half Liberia Mia scored 2 goals in 2 minutes to turn the game on their favor. Ten minutes before the game was over Liberia scored the third goal, and not only won the game, but wrote a new page in Costa Rican soccer history.

As we way in Costa Rica, Liberia Mia won the game by “GOLEADA”. This is a word we use to refer to a game won by a team by more than a three-goal difference.

I am a hearted follower of Saprissa “The Purple Monster” o “Mounstro Morado”. However, I was raised in Guanacaste (where Liberia Mia is from). Saprissa has won the last 5 championships in a row and we were hoping to win the sixth one. This did not happen and we have to go look for a new star in December of this year.

Now, with the national championship over, the whole country of Costa Rica focuses on the national team, which we call “La Sele”. La Sele will be playing the world cup qualifiers against the USA on June 3rd and then at Trinidad & Tobago on June 6th.

All I can say as a Costa Rican is that definetely soccer is the KING of Sports and the best game in the world.