{
    "title": "Canada Edges Costa Rica 2-1",
    "modified_at": "2026-05-05 18:53:38",
    "published_at": "2004-03-02 10:00:00",
    "url": "https://news.canadasoccer.com/canada-edges-costa-rica-2-1",
    "short_url": "http://prez.ly/WTFd",
    "culture": "en",
    "language": "EN",
    "subtitle": "Ottawa, Ontario \u0096 Canada\u2019s Women\u2019s World Cup Team defeated host, Costa Rica, 2-1 late last night to advance to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Canada finished first in Group A and will now face Mexico who ranked second in Group B play. The winner will earn one of two C\u2026",
    "slug": "canada-edges-costa-rica-2-1",
    "body": "<p>Ottawa, Ontario \u0096 Canada&rsquo;s Women&rsquo;s World Cup Team defeated host, Costa Rica, 2-1 late last night to advance to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Canada finished first in Group A and will now face Mexico who ranked second in Group B play. The winner will earn one of two CONCACAF spots at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Canada has won 10 straight games against Mexico and will attempt to make it 11 on Wednesday, March 3 at, Estadio Nacional in San Jose.<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b\u0093Canada&rsquo;s first 30 minutes of the game represented our best performance so far in this tournament,\u0094 said head coach Even Pellerud. \u0093Fortunately we were able to capitalize on great offensive pressures thanks to clinical finishes by Christine Latham and Aysha Jamani.\u0094<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200bLatham opened the scoring in the 7th minute followed by a goal by Jamani in the 21st minute. Jamani has now scored five goals during this tournament which ties her for first in goal scoring with Patricia Perez from Mexico.<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200bShirley Cruz scored Costa Rica&rsquo;s lone goal in the 60th minute.<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b\u0093The number of yellow cards our team received seemed to affect our performance in the second half,\u0094 continued Pellerud. Since Canada was handed five yellow cards, Pellerud opted to sub players who received a caution. \u0093We survived with a win, which makes us play Mexico on Wednesday. Fortunately, all players except Tanya Dennis seem available to play. The players&rsquo; ability to recover will be a key to win this crucial game,\u0094 concluded Pellerud.<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200bIn other semi-final action, USA will take on Costa Rica on Wednesday, March 3.<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200bMarch 1, 2004 \u0096 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying<br>\u200b<br>\u200bEladio Rosabal Cordero<br>\u200b<br>\u200bHer&eacute;dia, Costa Rica<br>\u200b<br>\u200bCanada 2 (2)<br>\u200b<br>\u200bCosta Rica 1 (0)<br>\u200b<br>\u200bReferee: Maria Cecibel ORTEGA (SLV)<br>\u200b<br>\u200bGoals: Canada \u0096 Christine Latham (7), Aysha Jamani (21); Costa Rica \u0096 Shirley Cruz (60)<br>\u200b<br>\u200bCautions: Canada \u0096 Melissa Tancredi (24), Aysha Jamani (29), Charmaine Hooper (54), Sharolta Nonen (57), Carmelino Moscato (67); Costa Rica &ndash; Arguedas (28), Castro (65)CAN: 1-Karina LeBlanc \u0096 2-Christine Latham, 5-Andrea Neil, 6-Sharolta Nonen, 8-Marie-Eve Nault, 10-Charmaine Hooper-C (3-Carmelino Moscato, 58), 11-Randee Hermus, 12-Christine Sinclair, 13-Diana Matheson, 14-Aysha Jamani (46: 15-Kara Lang), 17-Melissa Tancredi (7-Isabelle Morneau, 46). Head Coach: Even Pellerud<br>\u200b<br>\u200bCosta Rica: 1-Alejandra Alvarez \u0096 3-Gabriela Trujillo-C, 4-Karol Segura Arguedas, 5-Monica Salazar, 7-Emila Solano (56: 8-Ana Gabriel Campos), 9-Erica Castro, 10-Shirley Cruz, 11-Megen Chavez (40: 17-Jacqueline Alvarez), 15-Yahaira Aguilar, 16-Cindy Rodriguez, 19-Marian Montes (46: 6-E. Xiomara Briceno).<br>\u200b</p>",
    "author": {
        "first_name": "Integration",
        "last_name": "Integration"
    },
    "format_version": 5
}