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Costa Rica earns surprising draw
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Costa Rica stormed back from a 3-1 deficit to tie Mexico 3-3 on Sunday, keeping alive its chances of qualifying for the 1998 World Cup finals in France.Paulo Cesar Wonchope connected from the right side with about three minutes remaining to tie the score, keeping Costa Rica two points behind the United States, which was in third place in the CONCACAF regional playoffs that will send three teams to France.
Costa Rica's fate would be affected by a game later in the day between second-place Jamaica and El Salvador, which stood even with Costa Rica following Sunday afternoon's game.
The result also meant the United States could advance with a victory over Canada later Sunday and no victory by El Salvador.
Mexico has already qualified for the World Cup and played several second-stringers vs. Costa Rica.
After a lackluster tie last week against the United States, Mexico seemed to be fired up, taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Paulo Cesar Chavez in the first minute and by Benjamin Galindo at 42 minutes.
After a penalty kick goal by Hernan Medford at 54 minutes for Costa Rica, Mexico's Carlos Hermosillo made it 3-1 at 68 minutes.
Costa Rica's Jafet Soto scored at 71 minutes with a strong shot from the left side that sailed past goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez.
With the game nearing an end, Sanchez made a save and Wanchope kicked the rebound home from the right wing.
The tie, Mexico's third straight, is likely to turn up the pressure on coach Bora Milutinovic, who has been heavily criticized in the Mexican press despite his team's qualification for the Cup finals.
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GROUP A: Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland
GROUP B: Austria, Cameroon, Chile, Italy
GROUP C: Denmark, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
GROUP D: Bulgaria, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain
GROUP E: Belgium, Holland, Mexico, South Korea
GROUP F: Germany, Iran, United States, Yugoslavia
GROUP G: Colombia, England, Romania, Tunisia
GROUP H: Argentina, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan