Costa Rica overcame an early deficit and broke a second-half stalemate with a dramatic Josimar Alcocer goal in the 85th minute to put away the Dominican Republic in CONCACAF Gold Cup play Wednesday evening in Arlington, Texas.
In the decisive sequence, Manfred Ugalde gathered a cross in the center of the field just outside the 18-yard box. He found Alcocer with a sliver of space between defenders, and Alcocer sprinted toward the goal before chipping the ball over goalkeeper Xavier Valdez.
Ugalde created the deadlock by converting a penalty kick in the 44th minute, getting Valdez to guess to the right and burying it toward the left.
Joao Urbaez scored for the Dominican Republic in the 16th minute. He followed a Keylor Navas save and getting to the rebound and knocking in a right-footed shot to give his side a 1-0 lead.
Mexico (2-0-0, 6 points), which won later Wednesday, moved ahead of Costa Rica (2-0-0, 6 points) atop Group A thanks to a superior goal differential. The two teams, both assured of quarterfinal berths, will square off Sunday night in Las Vegas.
Suriname (0-2-0, 0 points) and the Dominican Republic (0-2-0, 0 points) are both eliminated from contention ahead of their head-to-head matchup Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
–Field Level Media
