Mexico beat Costa Rica in hostile conditions

San Jose: Mexico dealt Costa Rica a damaging home defeat while Honduras and the United States won on Saturday to shake up the standings in 2010 World Cup qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean. Mexico more than met the challenge of taking on Costa Rica on the artificial pitch at notoriously hostile Saprissa Stadium, winning 3-0 with goals from Giovanni Dos Santos, Guillermo Franco and Andres Guardado. The victory gave Mexico 12 points, the same as Costa Rica but ahead on goal difference. They trail Honduras and the United States, both on 13 points. In San Pedro Sula, Honduras pummelled Trinidad and Tobago 4-1, while the United States rallied to beat El Salvador 2-1 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The top three teams in the group advance directly to the World Cup finals in South Africa. Drogba and Eto’o score in Africa Johannesburg: Strikers Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba scored as Cameroon revived their World Cup qualification hopes and Ivory Coast moved within one point of the finals on Saturday. Eto’o set up the first goal and netted the second as Cameroon scored twice in two minutes midway through the second half to beat Group A leaders Gabon 2-0 in Libreville on Saturday. Drogba scored twice to help the Ivorians overwhelm their closest rivals Burkina Faso 5-0 in Abidjan in their Group E match. Saudis hold Bahrain in playoff Manama: A superb display by goalkeeper Waleed Adbullah enabled Saudi Arabia to hold on for a 0-0 draw in their World Cup Asian playoff with Bahrain here on Saturday.
Sources : Agencies