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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras. December 14,2004,-
Costa Rica recorded its second victory in a
row during the XIII Men’s Central American
Cup while defeating El Salvador 3-0 (25-17,
25-15, 25-22).
In the other matches of the second day,
Honduras kept its unbeaten record with a 3-2
triumph over Belize and Panama debuted with
a 3-1 success against Nicaragua.
Despite the Costa Rican superiority, the
Salvadorans pressed for moments but could
not overcome their rivals and favorites to
dispute the gold medal of the event.
“The game was not easy,” said Juan
Acuna, head
coach of the Costa Rica team. “But our team
looked better than on Sunday, more confident
and more solid. We
are in the
right
path.”
Acuna
said that with these two victories his
players have the chance to get into the
competition rhythm.
“The wins over Belize and El Salvador allow
us to project better for the toughest teams
against Honduras on Thursday and Panama on
Friday,” said Acuna.
“Honduras is the host team and Panama is the
defending champion.”
On Tuesday, the Costa Ricans play against
Guatemala.
“They have a very young team and if nothing
extraordinary happens the result must be a
3-0 for Costa Rica, but first you got to
play and then talk about the outcome,” said
Acuna.
The tournament is played under the
round-robin system and the team with the
best record will be the champion.
“Here we don’t have a final phase, so we are
compelled to win every match in order to be
the champions,” added
Acuna.
For the second consecutive day, Honduras
stretched its match to the fifth set and
came out the winner this time against
Belize. The host team came from one set down
to win by score of 19-25, 25-14, 25-19,
20-25, 15-11.The
blocking of Jose
Membreno was key
in the tie-breaker as also the contribution
of the rest of his teammates.
Panama, the
defending champion, had no trouble to defeat
Nicaragua who suffered its second loss.
Standings
after
two
days: Costa Rica
(2-0), Honduras (2-0),
Panama (1-0), Guatemala (1-0) El
Salvador (0-2), Belize
(0-2) and
Nicaragua (0-2). |
