Costa Rica beats Northern Ireland 3-0 in pre-World Cup friendly
San Jose, June 4: Costa Rica's national team has bid farewell to their fans with a 3-0 win over Northern Ireland in a friendly match here at the National Stadium as 35,000 fans gave a standing ovation to goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
Navas, currently a goalkeeper for Spanish Club Real Madrid, was replaced in the 34th minute, and received a resounding ovation during the Sunday match, Efe news reported.
Midfielder Johan Venegas, forward Joel Campbell and defender Francisco Calvo each scored a goal for their team in the 29th, 46th and 65th minute, respectively.
The Costa Rican team, headed by Oscar Ramirez, played the pre-World Cup friendly against Northern Ireland with speed and good ball control.
Before participating in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the Costa Rican team will play two more friendly matches against England on June 7 in Leeds, and against Belgium on June 11 in Brussels.
Costa Rica plays in Group E along with Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland.
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Neeraj Chopra wins Golden Spike meet
Ostrava (Czech Republic), Jun 24 (PTI): Indian javelin throw superstar Neeraj Chopra on Tuesday clinched the title at the Golden Spike meet in his maiden appearance here, his back-to-back win in a top-class competition.
Fresh from his Paris Diamond League win on June 20, Chopra emerged on top in a nine-man field here though with a modest effort of 85.29m in the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event.
He had skipped the last two editions of Golden Spike -- an event that his coach Jan Zelezny won nine times in a storied career -- due to fitness issues.
The 27-year-old Chopra has had an impressive season so far, having won his first Diamond League title in two years in Paris after also breaching the elusive 90m mark during his second place finish in Doha DL in May.
