The Costa Rica national men’s soccer team, La Sele, won and lost last weekend.
They were victors in two games but the victims of a theft of an estimated $17,000 worth of belongings.
Two coaches’ rooms at the Clarion Hotel in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where the regional Central American championship was played, were broken into right as their game against Panama was starting Friday night.
According to the daily Al Día, two men who had registered at the Clarion as journalists, dressed up as La Sele team players and approached the front desk to ask for new pass card keys for “their” rooms, saying theirs no longer worked. The hotel staff complied, and the two entered rooms shared by the team’s coaching staff, making off with passports, three laptops and a large amount of cash.
The theft aside, the weekend was still a success for La Sele and key preparation for the next round of World Cup qualifiers that kick off Feb. 11.
Costa Rica knocked off Guatemala 3-1 Sunday night. The game opened slowly, going into the half with Costa Rica up 1-0 after a goal by Alvaro Sánchez in the 34th minute.
It picked up in the second half when Guatemala scored one goal in the 51st to equalize, but Costa Rica responded with back-to-back goals by Pablo Herrera in the 59th minute and Roberto Segura in the 61st.
Costa Rica beat a dreary Panama 3-0. Andy Furtado scored twice. Sánchez bagged the other.
Costa Rica will play their semi-final game today against El Salvador.
–Holly K. Sonneland
