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 "Today we stole the eagle's eggs," Nicaragua's Costa Rican coach
Henry Duarte said after his side put themselves in a strong position
to progress when the teams meet again in the second leg in Managua
on Tuesday.
Nicaragua, who won all four matches in the opening two rounds of the
competition, raced out to a 3-0 lead with captain Manuel Rosas
scoring from the penalty spot in the fifth minute, Carlos Chavarria
finding the back of the net three minutes later and Luis Galeano
striking in the 48th minute.
The Reggae Boyz, who had reached a new high meeting Mexico in July's
CONCACAF Gold Cup final, fought back in the final 22 minutes with
goals from Darren Mattocks (68th) and Adrian Mariappa (78) but it
was not enough.
"I was sure the lads would do a good job," Duarte was quoted as
saying in the Nicaraguan newspaper El Nuevo Diaro
(www.elnuevodiario.com.ni).
"It was a match with a very intense rhythm and today Nicaragua were
up to it," he said.
A lack of fitness in his players allowed outright favourites
Jamaica, who reached the 1998 World Cup finals in France, to hit
back, he said.
"The problem wasn't tactical but of conditioning. If we'd had more
(fitness) level we'd have won this match by four or five (goals),
but when the lads had legs they played good football and made
Jamaica look poor."
A total of 12 teams are contesting six, two-legged series to
determine the teams that will join the six seeded sides in the next
phase.
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Canada, who have only once qualified for the World Cup in 1986,
thumped Belize 3-0 with Tosaint Ricketts scoring on either side of
the break and Atiba Hutchinson adding an injury time goal.
Haiti also scored a comfortable 3-1 away win over Grenada. Jean
Eudes Maurice, Mechack Jerome and Duckens Nazon each had a goal for
Haiti while Anthony Straker scored from the penalty spot for
Grenada.
In other action, Myles Weston's 72nd minute penalty earned Antigua
and Barbuda a 1-0 win over Guatemala while Larin's goal in the 12th
minute stood up as the winner as El Salvador beat Curacao 1-0.
Saint Vincent were a 2-0 winners over Aruba. (Reporting by Steve
Keating in Toronto and Rex Gowar in London; Editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
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