With goals by Kevin Masis and Andy Reyes, the U-17 Men’s Football Team of Costa Rica obtained a very important victory over their counterparts from South Africa with a score of 2 – 1. This was the first time that our young players win a match in the history of the U-17 World Cup.

The match took place at the Concepcion Municipal Stadium in the host nation of Chile, and it was the first match for both Costa Rica and South Africa in their group, which includes the national teams of Russia and North Korea. With this victory, Costa Rica is the leader of the group and could advance to the next round of the World Cup with a draw and a loss.

The South African U-17 players are known by their fans as the Amajimbos, a Zulu nickname. Costa Rica and South Africa were evenly matched in terms of football skills and speed, but the Amajimbos clearly had a physical advantage over the Ticos. Costa Rica opened the scoreboard with a solid goal by Kevin Masis at the 7-minute mark. The second goal arrived in the second half by means of a penalty kick by Andy Reyes. This was a controversial call by the referee, who saw a handball by a South African defender inside the box; upon closer inspection, it looked as if the ball hit the shoulder of the player as he tried to control with his chest.

Despite this historic victory, which was celebrated by about a dozen Tico fans at the stadium in Concepcion, the young players from Costa Rica still have a challenging road ahead in this World Cup as the Russian and North Korean teams are considered to be of a higher skill caliber than the Ajimbos.

It interesting to note that the Men’s National Football Team of Costa Rica, La Sele, lost to their South African counterparts (known as Bafana Bafana) at the Chinese-donated National Stadium just a few weeks ago during a friendly match.