 Costa Rica broke Chinese hearts with a convincing 2-0 victory in their opening Group C clash.
With FIFA president Sepp Blatter watching - and giving China's World Cup debut
his personal mark of approval - Bora Milutinovic's charges collapsed under the
pressure of expectation.
Second-half goals from Ronald Gomez and Mauricio Wright clinched a deserved
triumph for the central Americans.
The game had seemed little more than a battle to avoid the Group C wooden
spoon after a lacklustre first half.
And with the outstanding Brazilian and Turkish sides still to come for the two
footballing minnows, there seems little chance of the group makeweights going
much further.
To make matters worse for China, they could be forced to play without
Manchester City's Sun Jihai after he suffered an early injury.
Costa Rica made the better of the early chances, the first coming as Rolando
Fonseca chased a long crossfield ball and was stopped by a head high challenge
from Li Weifeng that somehow failed to make Greek referee Kyros Vassaras take
any action.
But a minute later Costa Rica's Luis Marin was cautioned for minimal contact
on Ma Mingyu, and then Mauricio Solis was booked for cutting down Jihai soon
after.
China were having all of the possession, but Costa Rica should have scored on
20 minutes when Solis surged away down the right, delayed his shot with one
touch too many when clean through, and saw the effort blocked by Jiang Jin.
Jihai's involvement soon ended, though, after a heavy challenge by Solis - the
third strong challenge on the man Costa Rica clearly felt was the Chinese
dangerman. Jihai limped away after 25 minutes to be replaced by Qu Bo.
Costa Rica's Paulo Wanchope endured one of those languid first halves Derby
and West Ham will remember with little fondness, but he missed a fine opening on
28 minutes when he rose to a Harold Wallace cross and powered a header wide.
Ronald Gomez should also have done better with a snap shot from the edge of
the box a minute later.
China showed more drive after the break, increasing the pace of the game, and
on 56 minutes Wu Chengying got down the left to fire in a cross that Eintracht
Frankfurt striker Yang Chen crashed over the angle from beyond the far post.
Costa Rica then replaced Fonseca with Hernan Medford two minutes later, and
his introduction was to change the game.
On 61 minutes Li Tie was booked for a foul on Medford, and from the free-kick
Costa Rica deservedly took the lead.
The ball was swung in and Medford's run saw the ball break in the box for
Wanchope, whose effort was blocked but fell nicely for Gomez to drive home from
15 yards.
While China were still dazed, Costa Rica doubled their advantage four minutes
later.
Medford was involved again, turning to chip a cross into the six-yard box for
Mauricio Wright to angle his header across Jiang Jin and inside the far post.
Costa Rica brought on Steven Bryce for Wallace and Manchester City's
interested ended when Wanchope - playing his first serious game since February
following two knee operations - was replaced by Wilmer Lopez with 10 minutes
left.
It could easily have been more, with Li Tie having to clear off the line from
Gomez in injury time.
China
Jiang Jin, Wu Chengying, Li Weifeng, Fan Zhiyi (Yu Genwei 74), Sun Jihai (Qu Bo 26), Xu Yunlong, Li Tie, Ma Mingyu, Li Xiaopeng, Yang Chen (Su Maozhen 66), Hao Haidong.
Costa Rica
Erick Lonnis, Luis Marin, Mauricio Wright, Gilberto Martinez, Carlos Castro, Harold Wallace (Steven Bryce 70), Mauricio Solis, Walter Centeno, Rolando Fonseca (Hernan Medford 57), Paulo Wanchope (Wilmer Lopez 80), Ronald Gomez.
Goals: Gomez 61, Wright 65.
Attendance: 27,217 |
Soccer Media
