By Vijay Setlur and Jeffrey King
CARSON, California - A unlikely clash for first place in Group A looms Tuesday after some late-game heroics on the opening night of the Gold Cup.
Canada and El Salvador scored key goals late in the second half, putting themselves surprisingly atop their group.
Canada relied on a late goal from Ali Gerba and goalkeeping from Greg Sutton to get a 1-0 win over Jamaica. Meanwhile, El Salvador leveraged two Osael Romero goals and the energy from a raucous capacity and partisan El Salvadoran crowd of 27,000 to upset group favorite Costa Rica 2-1.
The victories set up a first-place showdown between the two in Columbus with the victor likely to earn one of two berths in the quarterfinals.
El Salvador, who had lost its four previous games against Costa Rica, relied heavily on counterattacks to finally break its losing streak to its Central American neighbor. Romero scored the ninth and 10th career international goals on the evening, putting "La Selecta" ahead in the 20th minute and adding the winner in the 86th.
"When we step on the field, we give everything we have," Romero said. "We always fight for each other and leave everything out on the field."
Costa Rica had its share of possession, but was unable to crack a Salvadoran defense. "La Selecta" often kept 9-10 men behind the ball and was, in many cases, able to stifle Los Ticos' attack before they neared the goal.
"They were very organized defensively," Costa Rica manager Rodrigo Kenton said. "I think we played well and fought hard, but in the end, they took advantage of their chances and we didn't."
Gerba finished his chance for his 15th international goal, adding to his impressive goals-to-games ratio.
His one-timed volley in the 75th minute broke the deadlock in a goalkeepers' duel between Sutton and Jamaica's Donovan Ricketts.
The tall lanky goalkeepers matched each other save-for-save most of the night in two excellent performances.
Despite the win, Canada manager Stephen Hart felt his side has room for improvement heading into the showdown with El Salvador.
"I think we could have done better. We played very well in the first half, created some good chances and some half chances," he said. "In the second half we opened brightly, had two very good chances.
"I thought Ricketts was outstanding and then we fell part a bit. I think we fatigued a bit and when we fatigue instead of keeping the ball and resting with it we gave it away and once you give it away now you gotta work to get it back. I think that is something we need to sit down and discuss and do better in the next game."
