MIAMI, Florida – Costa Rican rivals Alajuelense and Cartagines will reunite on Thursday night with a berth in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup on the line in the second leg of the 2023 Concacaf Central American Cup quarterfinals at the Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela, Costa Rica.
The two teams met at Cartagines’ home stadium in the first leg last week and it was an impressive 3-1 away win for Alajuelense, giving the 2022 Concacaf League finalists a strong advantage going into Thursday’s second leg.
But Cartagines showed plenty of fight after going down 3-0 by pulling back a goal late through Marcel Hernandez and then nearly scoring another.
They will hope that momentum can carry into the opening minutes of this week’s second leg. Hernandez’s late goal last week was his third of the tournament, but one other player to watch could be Jossimar Pemberton, who has four goals in his last 16 games against Alajuelense.
Another player with a strong record of scoring against Alajuelense is Jeikel Venegas, with two goals in nine games, while the precise passing of Christian Martinez will be called upon again after he completed 71 passes in the first leg.
Alajuelense have hardly wavered in this Central American Cup, with five wins from all five matches played. They have been superb at home, outscoring opponents 6-1 in the two games in front of the home fans.
The triumvirate of Celso Borges, Joel Campbell and Johan Venegas almost reads like a Concacaf Who’s Who, as Venegas had a goal and an assist in the first leg, Borges completed 82 passes and Campbell tallied the opening score for his side.
Carlos Mora was another player who delivered a top performance with two assists, as did Aaron Suarez, who scored the team’s third goal and is scorching hot with four goals in his last five games in all competitions.
Match Officials LD Alajuelense (CRC) vs CS Cartagines (CRC)
REF: DREW FISCHER (Canada)
AR1: CAMERON BLANCHARD (USA)
AR2: JEREMY KIESO (USA)
4TH: RUBIEL VAZQUEZ (USA)
