International Break Update: Mexico 2 - 0 Costa Rica

It’s a tough task playing on the road at the Azteca, one of the most intimidating venues in all of CONCACAF. Not many teams head into Mexico City and come away with points.

Going into the match, Costa sat at the top of the standings with Mexico just below them, only two points off the lead.

From the start of the match there was back to back action as neither team really wanted possession of the ball. It would only take El Tri 7 minutes to notch the first goal. A Carlos Velas pass would set up Chicharito to score his 46th international goal by chipping an onrushing Keylor Navas.

This would put Mexico ahead 1-0.

Mexico dominated every aspect of the game. El Tri came out and pressed Costa Rica hard - which seemed to rattle them. So rattled that in the 45th minute, Mexico would win a corner kick. Costa Rica left Mexico center back Nestor Aravjo unmarked in the box and would bury the ball behind a Navas that was rooted to his spot.

And that’s how the half would end 2-0.

Mexico came out hot in the second half putting the screws to the Ticos. You could just watch the first half and it would’ve been the same as seeing the second. Costa Rica would show a few flashes of life only to have water thrown on it courtesy of the Mexico defense, lead by the ageless Rafa Marquez.

The Ticos were no match for Mexico at home. Costa Rica would fall 2-0 and drop to second place in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.

Keylor Navas

Sigh.

It just wasn’t Keylor’s night. It was like he left his brain in Madrid.

The first goal of the night, that chip by Chicharito was all on him. He tried to come out and break down the angle by going to ground, and Chicharito does what he does and boom Ticos down 1-0. The second goal was definitely partly on the defense (as Aravjo was left alone in the box), but Navas definitely could have done a lot better on the resulting shot.

While he was mistake prone on several occasions, he was only burnt once. At one point he was outside the 18 yard box trying to win the ball, only to have Mexico almost score. The ball was simply miss hit and went wide across the goal mouth. Not to mention several squirming around on the ground in the box to try and wrap the ball up. It was overall a bad day at the office.

Player Rating: 5.5/10

Hopefully he can turn it around in time to face last place Honduras. The match is scheduled for Tuesday the 28th.