Costa Rica advance to semi-finals with 4-0 win over 10-man Trinidad and Tobago

July 8 – Costa Rica booked their semi-final berth and berth in the 2023 World Cup at the cavernous Estadios Universitario, Monterrey, with a 4-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago.

This will be Costa Rica's second trip to a World Cup after playing the 2015 edition in Canada.

In the end, it was a convincing victory against a Trinidad side that was reduced to 10 players in 22 minutes after Kedie Johnson received his second yellow card.

Costa Rica next face Olympic champions Canada in their final group game, a warm-up for a likely semi-final against world champions USA, who have improved tremendously game after game. Trinidad will be looking to salvage some pride by finishing their tournament against Panama.

Costa Rica entered half-time with a comfortable 3-0 lead.

The second half started as the first half ended with Costa Rica under pressure. In the 48th minute, Katherine Alvarado scored the goal of the game - possibly the tournament so far - by unleashing a 30m rocket that shot into the top right corner of Forbes' goal. 4-0 and Costa Rica were cruising.

Forbes stood out in the Trinidad goal and in the 65th minute made a remarkable one-handed save. The resulting clearance saw Victoria Swift catch Rodriguez who was left on the ground. Referee Francia Gonzalez pointed out the spot before, luckily VAR stepped in and brought some common sense to the proceedings to overturn a very bad decision.

To their credit, the Trinidad players had no complaints. It's something el...