Ecuador cruise into 2nd round
Germany also through
Ecuador 3
Costa Rica 0
\nEcuador strolled past Costa Rica 3-0 and into the second round of the World Cup yesterday for the first time in their history.
Goals in either half from Carlos Tenorio (8) and Agustin Delgado (54) and then a late strike from Ivan Kaviedes kept the South Americans' 100 per cent record in Group A intact following a 2-0 win over Poland in their opening match.
Germany are also through, having beaten Poland 1-0 in Dortmund on Wednesday.
Delgado and Tenorio were also goalscorers against the Poles.
The group winners will be decided when Ecuador meet the hosts Germany next Tuesday. The Ticos, meanwhile, head home after the first phase for a second successive finals.
Despite early pressure from Costa Rica, Ecuador opened the scoring after eight minutes when Tenorio headed home from a nicely floated cross by Luis Valencia.
Costa Rica came out fighting once again in the second half, but their enthusiasm was short-lived as Ecuador doubled their tally in the 54th minute with a superbly taken goal.
Edison Mendez won the ball on the right hand corner of the box before Delgado pounced on to the loose ball, controlled it with his chest, before rifling home from a tight angle.
Two minutes into injury time, Kaviedes turned the ball in with a volley after a cross from the right to make it three.
The early goal in the first half seemed to settle the South Americans and they began to take control of the game, stringing together long pieces of passing play.
Their opponents were reduced to long range shots which never really troubled Ecuador.
Aftermatch comments
Ecuador coach Luis Fernando Suarez is already looking forward to playing Germany next week after the convincing victory.
"It will be very difficult against Germany because the players are going to be tired. They played two games. They want to play a very good match against Germany. It will be a historic match," he said.
Costa Rica coach Alexandre Guimaraes told reporters: "The game is like that when you miss chances the other side have no mercy.
"That is the story for us in these two games."
Ecuador: 12-Mora; 4-de la Cruz, 3-Hurtado, 17-Espinoza (2-Guaga 68), 18-Reasco; 8-Mendez, 20-E. Tenorio, 14-Castillo, 16-Valencia (6-Urrutia 69); 11-Delgado, 21-C. Tenorio (10-Kaviedes 46).
Costa Rica: 18-Porras; 3-Marin, 4-Umana, 15-Wallace; 12-Gonzalez (16-Hernandez 56), 8-Solis, 10-Centeno (13-Bernard 84), 20-Sequeira, 6-Fonseca (19-Saborio 29); 11-Gomez, 9-Wanchope.
Referee: Coffi Codjia (Benin).
Scorers: C. Tenorio (8), Delgado (54), Kaviedes (90).
Half-time: 1-0; Attendance: 50,000.