SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, August 20, 2022. Four hard-fought sets were played between Costa Rica and Panama in the first game of the day on Saturday, where the Costa Ricans won 3-1 with partial 25-19/23-25/25- 19/25-19 in the framework of the V Men’s U23 Central American Championship.
Costa Rica began by winning the game 25 to 19, with a seasoned Panama that would not give up.
For the second set, the Costa Ricans largely dominated until point 20 and Panama had a positive streak of points that would end up giving them victory in this set. The third and fourth set would be for Costa Rica with the same score 25-19.
Dowshel Mc Donald Smith scored 20 and Josué Rojas 16 for the Costa Rican team as the best scorers in the first game. While for Panama, Daniel Andrade got 14 points and Denzel Arboine 11.
Costa Rica dominated attacks 59-43, blocks 10-8, services 4-3. With 28 errors from Cota Rica for 25 from the Panamanians.
For Sunday, on the last day of competition Panama will face the hosts at 7:30pm and Costa Rica will face Nicaragua at 2:30pm.
Statements
Deykel Smith, striker, Costa Rican National Team: “We knew it was going to be a very difficult game because Panama is a very strong team, we have to concentrate, we can’t lose here, we give everything on the pitch”.
Daniel Andrade, center back, Panama National Team: “Unfortunately we couldn’t win the match against Costa Rica, they were a very strong rival, we gave it our all, but we couldn’t get the victory. We have one game left against El Salvador, and we are going to try to win it and give it our all”.
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