I will wait until it’s official before I bore you with a few hundred words of my thoughts on Costa Rica, but you shouldn’t fear the Ticos. They’re a solid side, they have a world class keeper, they have a lot of players with immense experience and they’re kind of old, slow and have a lot of trouble scoring goals. If New Zealand defends their set pieces well, this match fairly screams 1-0 and could go either way.
I didn’t get to see the US Panama match, but it feels like Panama just collapsed after giving away the penalty. So much for the US having a hangover after Azteca and feeling it in their legs. I still can’t decide if Mexico isn’t getting the most out of their players and it’s bad management or if they just aren’t very good. But it looks like they will limp into Qatar.
Panama really hurt themselves with that draw Thursday. Canada was introduced at half time of the NBA match in Toronto tonight and half the squad looked very hungover. I am tempering any expectations for the performance away to Panama on Wednesday, but that could have been an easy three points for Panama, but now it doesn’t matter.
And celebrate we did coochiee! When I imagined us finally qualifying I never expected it to be in a match when we were already mathematically in, playing a bunch of Jamaican reserves and absolutely bossing it with an extra match to spare. There was no drama, once we got the early goal it was just a great chance to soak in the atmosphere and think about the journey it has been to get here. It was also obnoxiously cold for March 27. I got windburn on my face. A lot of people felt it was colder than the Iceteca match against Mexico in Edmonton, but I think we were all really ready for that cold, the cold in Toronto caught us off guard because it was only -4 or something, but it was -15 with the windchill and it was right in your face. We play well in the snow though… it snows in November in Qatar, doesn’t it? :)
Good luck to the All Whites in the OFC final.