SAN JOSE – Costa Rican sides Herediano and Alajuelense battled to a thrilling 2-2 draw in the first leg of the 2023 Concacaf Central American Cup semifinals on Wednesday night at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The back-and-forth affair was capped by three goals scored in the first five minutes of the second half, giving Alajuelense a slight edge ahead of next week’s second leg.
Alajuelense could not have asked for a better start and it was crafted by veteran attacker Joel Campbell, who swung an inch-perfect diagonal pass into Carlos Mora, who fired a right-footed shot that beat Herediano GK Aaron Cruz for a 1-0 Alajuelense lead.
Herediano needed something in attack and it would come from the bench at the very start of the second half. Allan Cruz had not been on the field for just a couple seconds when he latched onto a ball and hammered a right-footed shot into the top right corner of goal to even things at 1-1.
Alajuelense did not even bat an eye and they regained the lead just minutes later in the 49’ when a counterattack ended with Joshau Navarro cutting back for a wide-open Johan Venegas, who left no doubt to make it 2-1 to the visitors.
But Herediano had another trick up their sleeve, and Jesus Godinez carved out space in the Saprissa defense and stabbed home a cross to level the score again at 2-2 in the 50’.
Things finally settled down as the second stanza wore on with chances for both sides, but no winner was to be found, as another exciting 90 minutes await in the return leg next week.
