Costa Rica advances after goalless draw with Canada at Gold Cup
TORONTO — Esteban made two saves and anchored a stingy defense as Costa Rica tied Canada 0–0 on a rainy Tuesday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Costa Rica, the second-place team in Group B with three straight draws, has qualified for the knockout round of the Gold Cup in its last nine appearances.
Esteban bobbled a free kick in the 81st minute. Canada's Andre Hainault won the loose ball in front of the net and redirected it toward goal, but Bryan Ruiz made a goal-line deflection and Roy Miller cleared it away.
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Canada was eliminated from the tournament after not scoring in a sixth consecutive Gold Cup match — extending its scoreless streak to 560-plus minutes. Canada had a goal disallowed in the 68th minute after Marcus Haber was whistled for an offside on a free kick.
Costa Rica's best scoring chance came when Deyver Vega forced a diving save by Kyriakos Stamatopoulos in the first minute of first-half stoppage time.
