Tatiana Weston-Webb Claims Silver in Women’s Surfing at 2024 Paris Games

Posted on August 5, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Tatiana Guimarães Weston-Webb is leaving the 2024 Paris Games as an Olympic medalist.

In a dramatic final heat on Monday, the 28-year-old Brazilian American surfer had to settle for a silver medal in women’s surfing after losing to Caroline Marks of the United States at Teahupo’o, Tahiti.

Weston-Webb needed a wave of 4.68 points when she caught one in the final two minutes that she took all the way into the reef before finally giving up.

She couldn’t quite barrel the wave but managed to make a few turns, allowing the judges to give her the win. The horn sounded to end the heat before the score was announced.

Weston-Webb was eventually given a 4.50 for her final wave resulting in a total score of 10.33, falling .17 points short of Marks, who finished with a 10.50.

Marks gave the United States a gold medal winner for the second straight Olympics after Carissa Moore won the inaugural surfing event at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Weston-Webb, who competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics for Brazil, had surfed her way into the final by knocking out Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy in the semifinals.

Davinson Sánchez Helps Lead Colombia to Copa America Victory Over Costa Rica for 10th Straight Win

Posted on June 28, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a perfect 10 for Davinson Sánchez and his Colombia teammates…

The 28-year-old Colombian professional footballer and Jhon Córdoba scored three minutes apart in the second half on Friday to help Colombia advance to the Copa América quarterfinals with a 3-0 win over Costa Rica.

Colombia controlled possession (62%) for the second straight game and led 1-0 at halftime on Luis Díaz‘s penalty kick in the 31st minute.

Los Cafeteros kept up the pressure in the second half and wrapped up Group D with a dominating performance in front of 27,386 pro-Colombian fans at State Farm Stadium. Colombia outshot Costa Rica 14-5 and faces Brazil on Tuesday in Santa Clara, California, to close out the group stage.

Colombia has won 10 straight and is unbeaten in 25 games (20-0-5) since losing at Argentina in a World Cup qualifier in 2022. Costa Rica did not have a shot on goal.

Costa Rica had the first big surprise of the tournament, playing nine-time Copa América champion Brazil to a scoreless tie despite being outshot 18-2.

Los Ticos found themselves on their heels again against another powerhouse team in the desert — and it didn’t go quite as well for the youngest roster in the tournament.

Colombia controlled possession (66%) in its opening 2-1 win over Paraguay and dominated the ball early against Costa Rica.

Díaz had the first good chance in the fifth minute, just missing the crossbar on a header. James Rodríguez followed with the first shot on goal in the 20th minute, but Patrick Sequeira sprawled out for a diving save.

Díaz scored on the penalty kick after Sequeira took down a charging Córdoba at the edge of the penalty box. Los Cafeteros kept up the pressure, just missing another goal when Sánchez couldn’t get a head on Díaz’s bouncing cross.

Colombia had 71% possession in the first half and kept control in the second.

Sánchez made it 2-0 with a header off a corner kick in the 59th minute. Córdoba scored when he slipped behind Costa Rica’s defense and beat Sequeira from a tough angle.

Jesus Ferreira Leads United States U-23 National Team to Critical Win Over Costa Rica

Posted on March 18, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Jesus Ferreira is leading the American futbol pack…

The 20-year-old Colombian soccer player led the United States U-23 national team to a critical victory in its bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, helping them defeat Costa Rica 1-0 in its opening match of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament in Guadalajara.

Ferreira, an attacker for FC Dallas, scored the game’s only goal in the 35th minute, and the U.S. defense made it stand up, with keeper David Ochoa making a total of eight saves in a Man-of-the-Match performance.

With Mexico and the Dominican Republic also in Group A, the victory puts the U.S. in excellent position to be one of the two teams to advance and progress to the winner-take-all semifinal.

The U.S. struggled to maintain possession as the game went on amid difficult conditions at Estadio Jalisco that included game-time temperatures approaching 90 degrees as well as altitude of over 5,000 feet. Given that the Major League Soccer season has yet to start while the Costa Rican league is in the middle of its own, the fact that Los Ticos had the better of play wasn’t that surprising.

But the U.S. made the plays that mattered, and rode the saves of Ochoa to claim all three points.

“It wasn’t great,” said U.S. manager Jason Kreis about his team’s attempts to take care of the ball. “It was an important result for us but I would say that we would have hoped to have gotten that result in a little bit of a better fashion.

“I think we would have hoped that we could have been better on the ball and make better decisions and maintain the tempo of the game better. But unfortunately, part of guys not playing matches is that it’s not just about fitness, it’s also about their touch on the ball.

“And so I felt that the majority of what Costa Rica did to hurt us was in transition, when we gave the ball away very cheaply.”

Both teams showed nerves in the early going. Ferreira robbed Costa Rica defender Fernan Faerron in the second minute, advanced on goal unimpeded, but could only hit the post with the shot.

Ochoa was then twice called on to deliver two big saves, smothering Adrian Martinez‘s shot in the seventh minute, and then another close-range Martinez effort 10 minutes later following a giveaway from U.S. defender Mauricio Pineda.

Intent on getting an equalizer, Costa Rica started the second half with the greater level of intensity. The U.S. didn’t help itself with some giveaways deep in its own half, but Ochoa was on hand again, diving to his right to deny Randall Leal‘s effort in the 48th minute and then saving from Luis Diaz three minutes later.

Guardado Leads Mexico to 3-1 Win Over Jamaica in CONCACAF Gold Cup Title Match

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Andrés Guardado is returning south of the border as Mexico’s new soccer hero…

The 28-year-old Mexican futbol player, who plays for Dutch club PSV Eindhoven and the Mexico national team, scored his fourth goal of the knockout rounds to help propel Mexico to its seventh CONCACAF Gold Cup title Sunday with a 3-1 victory over upstart Jamaica.

Jesus Corona and Oribe Peralta contributed goals as El Tri scored twice early in the second half to ensure this match wouldn’t come down to any calls in the final minutes.

It was a convincing performance for coach Miguel Herrera and his team after some rough play and contentious moments in the previous two games.

Jamaica had made a rousing run to the final, stunning the U.S. in the semis to become the first Caribbean nation to reach the Gold Cup’s championship match. And they looked as though they belonged in the opening minutes, keeping the pressure on Mexico with several promising scoring chances but never putting a shot on goal.

Jamaica hadn’t trailed since early in the second half of its Gold Cup opener before a yellow card helped lead to Mexico’s first goal.

Darren Mattocks scored in the 80th minute to pull the Reggae Boyz within 3-1.

El Tri will face the U.S., the 2013 Gold Cup champions, on October 9 for CONCACAF’S spot in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia.

The only way Mexico had been able to score in the knockout rounds before Sunday had been on penalty kicks, all three by Guardado. And two of those came on late, questionable calls.

Against Costa Rica in the quarterfinals, a scoreless game was moments from going to a shootout when Guardado converted his penalty in the final minute of extra time. Mexico had been the better team that day, but that wasn’t the case in the semifinals. Down to 10 men, Panama was on the verge of victory when a disputed hand ball set up a penalty for Guardado in second-half stoppage time, and he scored on another for the winner in extra time.

Mexico had gone 272 minutes since one of its players scored on anything other than a penalty when Guardado put El Tri ahead for good Sunday. Jonathan dos Santos found Paul Aguilar out wide on a free kick, and Aguilar crossed it to Guardado, whose left-footed volley made it 1-0 in the 31st minute. It was his sixth goal of the tournament, one behind Clint Dempsey of the U.S.

Guardado came off to a thunderous ovation from the pro-Mexico crowd of 68,930 at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL‘s Philadelphia Eagles.

Navas & His Costa Rican Teammates’ World Cup Run Comes to a Close Against the Netherlands

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Keylor Navas and his Costa Rican teammates came thisclose to pulling off one of the biggest ever FIFA World Cup shocks.

The 27-year-old Costa Rican footballer and his fellow Los Ticos teammates gave the Netherlands an almighty scare, keeping the Dutch scoreless, denying stars like Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Wesley Sneijder any glory at every turn.

The Netherlands may have dominated all but the first 20 of the 120 minutes of the intense game, hitting the woodwork, reining in shot after shot and creatingchance after chance, but still couldn’t find a way past the Los Ticos goalkeeper, who has been the hero of his country and looks to be a major contender to win the Golden Gloves award for best keeper of the tournament.

But Costa Rica and Navas’ luck would eventually run out in the penalty shootout.

With seconds left in extra time and penalties looming, Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal made World Cup history by taking out his number one, Jasper Cillessen, and replacing him with Newcastle custodian Tim Krul.

Krul didn’t let his boss down, saving two of Costa Ricas’ penalty shots to ensure that his team advanced.

Navas had kept clean sheets against England and Italy, conceded only from the penalty spot against Uruguay, and had then produced a wonderful save in the shootout against Greece to ensure the outsiders’ place in the last eight. It will be scant consolation to him or his colleagues, but history will record that he kept a clean sheet again this time.

The Levante goalkeeper was at it again throughout this match where the men in orange held sway but simply could not find a way past the Tico keeper.

Navas made numerous saves, diving to his right, diving bravely at the feet of onrushing attackers, saving with his own feet: it seemed that however the Dutch tried to breach his goal they would not succeed.

The Netherlands’ win over Costa Rica set up a World Cup semifinal meeting with Argentina next Wednesday in Sao Paulo.

Ruiz Leads Costa Rica Past Italy and Into the World Cup Round of 16

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Bryan Ruiz has scored one of the most important goals of his career to help Costa Rica pull off one of the biggest upsets of the 2014 World Cup.

The 28-year-old Costa Rican footballer and national team captain’s header, the first goal World Cup of his career, in the 44th-minute cemented the team’s victory over Italy 1-0 in the Recife, Brazil.

Costa Rica showed their 3-1 win over Uruguay was no fluke as they took the game to Italy in impressive style. Los Ticos now lead Group C on six points

Ruiz’s header, the biggest goal for his team in the last 24 years, has resulted in Costa Rica’s return to the Round of 16 for the second time in its history — the first was in 1990.

“Maybe there are a lot of people who didn’t have faith in us because we were in the ‘Group of Death’,” said Ruiz in a post-game interview. “But the dead are the other ones and we’re going to the next round.”

The result also guarantees England‘s first-round exit from the tournament. It’s the first time since 1958 that England has been eliminated in the group stage of the FIFA World Cup.

Italy and Uruguay, who meet on Tuesday, each have three points but Italy’s superior goal difference means they need only a draw to go through.

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