HOUSTON: El Salvador’s Dustin Corea (L) and Costa Rica’s Michael Umaña vie for the ball during their CONCACAF Gold Cup match.—AP

HOUSTON: Dustin Corea scored off a free kick in injury time to lift El Salvador to a 1-1 draw with winless Costa Rica in their CONCACAF Gold Cup match on Saturday.

Costa Rica had one foot in the quarter-finals when they paid a steep price for sloppy defending from a free kick.

The ball was floated in from the left and Corea was given enough space to connect with a left-footed volley from six yards and send the raucous crowd at BBVA Compass Stadium into a frenzy.

The result leaves both teams with two points from two matches in Group ‘B’, while Jamaica have four points after beating Canada 1-0 in the early game, a result that leaves Canada with a solitary point.

Costa Rica meet Canada in the final group match, while Jamaica play El Salvador. The top-two qualify for the quarter-finals with the two best third-placed teams also advancing.

Costa Rica looked set to beat El Salvador when a touch of class by former Fulham midfielder Bryan Ruiz gave the Ticos the lead in the 61st minute.

Alvaro Saborio fed Ruiz with a nicely-weighted lob pass and the Costa Rica captain beat the keeper at the near post with a fiercely-struck low left-footed shot from a sharp angle.

But El Salvador, who played with plenty of enthusiasm but squandered some good chances, kept battling away and finally got their reward when they were awarded a free kick from the left flank on a questionable foul call against Ruiz.

Alvarez then found Corea who volleyed it past Esteban Alvarado.

It was another bitter disappointment for highly-ranked Costa Rica, who have failed to build off their quarter-final run at last year’s FIFA World Cup.

Earlier, Jamaica also left it late to score the only goal against Canada, as midfielder Rodolph Austin connected with a header in the 92nd minute.

The former Leeds United player rose from six yards out to meet a perfectly-weighted cross by Garath McCleary.

Canada’s David Edgar, who plays for English second division side Birmingham City, helped save a goal in the 27th minute when he cleared a ball off the line.

Jamaica had another superb opportunity to score in the 60th minute but Giles Barnes’ shot from a set piece deflected off the crossbar.

“Our great spirit and our team spirit is to win,” Jamaican technical director Winfried Schaefer said. “It was not a very good match from us, this was clear, but only three points were important.”

Canada have not scored in two matches and will need to improve in front of their home fans in Toronto on Tuesday against Costa Rica to have any chance of avoiding an early exit from the tournament.

Published in Dawn ,July 13th, 2015

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