Saprissa, with Fidel Escobar, to the final against Herediano

Saprissa, played by Panamanian Fidel Escobar, the reigning two-time champion, and Herediano advanced to the finals of Costa Rica’s Apertura 2023 soccer tournament after overcoming their semi-final series against Cartaginés and Alajuelense

Herediano maintained a 3-0 lead at home in the first leg and qualified for this Sunday’s final despite losing 1-0 to Alajuelense, where Panamanian Freddy Góndola also plays, under Argentina coach Andrés Carevic, while Saprissa beat Cartaginés 4 : 0 on Saturday and confirmed their place in the race for the title with a total score of 6-0.

A 3-0 first-leg lead gave Herediano peace of mind heading into Sunday’s game at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, home to Alajuelense, a team set to make an unprecedented comeback in Costa Rican soccer’s semi-finals.

In the first half, Herediano built a defensive wall that was impossible to break through for the Alajuelense team that had the best figure in Joel Campbell, but that abused aerial balls into space.

The introduction of Panamanian striker Freddy Góndola in the second period gave freshness to Alajuelense’s attack, which bore fruit in the 57th minute when Joshua Navarro scored to make it 1-0 with a deflected shot from Carlos Mora.

The goal lifted the momentum of Alajuelense and its fans, but it thinned out little by little between the excess of aerial balls and the solidity of Heredian’s defence, despite the fact that the visitors lost defender Fernán Faerrón to the sending-off with 10 minutes left.

A goal disallowed against Góndola in stoppage time for obvious offside was Alajuelense’s clearest chance of a comeback.

Last Saturday, coach Vladimir Quesada’s Saprissa defeated Cartaginés 4-0 to seal their ticket to the finals with a 6-0 aggregate score where they will aim to win their third straight Costa Rican Liga title and 39th in their history.

With a 0-2 win in their first away game, Saprissa arrived at Saturday’s second leg at home with a comfortable lead to win against a Cartaginés side that looked desperate from the start to score a goal that would put them in the series.

Already in the 2nd minute, Saprissa took the lead on the scoreboard with a goal by Jefferson Brenes and from then on, except for a few sparks from Cartaginés, everything was in the domain of the ‘purple monster’.

Panamanian defender-turned-midfielder Fidel Escobar scored the second goal in a good association game, and Saprissa went into halftime with the streak practically over.

In the second half, Ariel Rodríguez and Orlando Sinclair rounded off the win and sealed their ticket to the finals.

The first leg of the final will be played next Thursday at the Coyella Fonseca stadium, the home of Herediano, and the second leg is on Sunday at the Ricardo Saprissa stadium.