Key sentence:
- The Costa Rican goalkeeper misjudged a pass into the penalty area, allowing David to slide the ball in.
- In the 66th minute, Davies had the additional chance, but his shot went over the bar.
Jonathan David’s second-half goal has moved Canada closer to the World Cup.
In front of 48,806 people at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium on Friday, David’s 57th-minute goal was all Canada needed to overcome Costa Rica 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
The goal came after Leonel Moreira, the Costa Rican goalkeeper, misjudged a pass into the penalty area, allowing David to slide the ball in.
With the victory, Canada maintains its third-place position in the CONCACAF Octagon. Canada has 13 points (3-0-4) after seven games, while Costa Rica is 1-3-3.
The top three teams in the positions will qualify for the World Cup in Qatar next year. The fourth-place club will play another wild-card team from another region in a last-chance playoff.
Moreira was called up for Costa Rica due to an injury to the national team’s regular starting goalkeeper, Paris St. Germain’s Keylor Navas.
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The goal came minutes after Canadian winger Tajon Buchanan’s soaring bicycle kick stopped Moreira in his tracks, but the ball hit the crossbar for the second time in the game.
In the 15th minute, the first close call occurred. Alphonso Davies’ corner kick ricocheted against the crossbar after colliding with a swarm of Costa Rican defenders.
Davies has not played a competitive game in Edmonton since he was in his early teens. However, whenever the Bayern Munich star got close to the ball in the first half, he was often boxed out by two or three defenders.
In the 15th minute, he had a chance to score, but defender Oscar Duarte’s sliding effort stopped his shot.
In the 66th minute, Davies had the additional chance, but his shot went over the bar.
In the 34th minute, Costa Rica had its best chance of the game. The shot from Youstin Salas pushed Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan to make a diving save.
Salas was back in the mix seconds later. After Salas knocked down David in the Costa Rican box, most of the crowd chanted for a penalty, but American referee Ismail Elfath dismissed the requests.
The sides collided in scrums following fouls twice in the first half, injecting some fire to the game in the frigid 1 C conditions.
The first happened after Richie Laryea, a Canadian defender, kicked out at Costa Rican striker Jewison Bennette. Bennette then returned the favour on the 23rd, receiving a yellow after another incident with Laryea.
In the first half, Canadian defender Steven Vitoria was also shown yellow. Then, in the 70th minute, Ricardo Blanco received a yellow card for a foul on Buchanan.
Ike Ugbo made his first appearance for Canada in the 82nd minute as a replacement. Last week, Ugbo, a former England youth international, announced his intention to play for Canada.
Source: Global News
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