With the US losing to Costa Rica 2-1 with 20 seconds left in injury time, it looked like the Costa Ricans would get the 3rd and final direct spot into next year’s World Cup. Enter Jonathan Bornstein who headed in a corner kick from second-half substitute Robbie Rogers from about seven yards out resulting in a 2-2 tie. That coupled with Honduras’ 1-0 win over El Salvador gave both CR and Honduras a 5-4-1 record with 16 points each. On goal difference, Honduras makes it through to only their second ever World Cup.
In South America, Argentina managed to squeak into the 4th direct spot in the World Cup by beating Uruguay 1-0 after scoring in the 84th minute. Watching Argentina kill the game by holding possession for the final 6 minutes plus injury time was a thing of beauty. Once up by one goal, while Uruguay did get a few chances, for the most part Argentina dominated possession stringing pass after pass together while the opposition could only chase desperately. It was nice to see a team that knew how to hold a lead though I’m not sure it was due to any strategy of the boss Maradona. TFC might want to get a video of the match and take a few pointers on 1) how to hold a lead and 2) how to string together more than 3 passes.
After the game Maradona repeatedly used profane language to lash out at his critics at the post-game news conference. Maradona credited the win to “support he received from fans”. I would put the credit with the very talented players on the pitch who won the match in spite of their incompetent head coach.
After Argentina barely avoided missing the World Cup or at least having to play off against #4 from CONCACAF you would think this would be enough of a warning shot to call for Maradonna to be fired. Only time will tell. Maybe we can pull off a swap. Maradonna can coach team Canada and Argentina can take Dale Mitchell. In my estimation, both are equally qualified and equally competent as head coaches. Though for all his failings as a head coach, at least we can say Dale Mitchell gets the check mark when it comes to personal integrity.
Though, I suppose he does have one player at his disposal with a good hand:I’m looking forward to the Costa Rica v. Uruguay playoff for the final ticket to the World Cup. CR hosts the first leg on Nov. 14 before playing in South America four days later. Given what is at stake, emotions will definitely be running high!
PS
Speaking of Maradonna, maybe he could have used a little bit of himself in this campaign:
The hand of God, can never hurt anyone; well, maybe the English:
But come to think of it, he does have at least one player with a good hand:
