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FORTALEZA: Costa Rica’s Yeltsin Tejeda clears the ball during the group D World Cup soccer match between Uruguay and Costa Rica at the Arena Castelao in Fortaleza, Brazil yesterday. — AP Costa Rica stun Uruguay 3-1

FORTALEZA: Costa Rica came from a goal down to beat Uruguay stepped Paris Saint-Germain striker Cavani to calmly bury the 3-1 in a huge World Cup upset yesterday as the Copa America penalty to the right of Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas. It was champions suffered for the absence of star striker Luis Suarez. Cavani’s 22nd goal in 63 internationals. Colombia shrug off Falcao After Edinson Cavani gave the South Americans the lead from Uruguay went close to a second goal in the closing moments the penalty spot in the first half, Costa Rica roared back with two of the first half when veteran striker Diego Forlan’s shot took a goals in three minutes from Joel Campbell and Oscar Duarte. huge deflection which forced a back-pedalling Navas into a dra- absence to thrash Greece With Liverpool star Suarez confined to the bench recovering matic tip over. In the 54th minute, Costa Rica were level with 21- from a knee injury, Costa Rica grabbed a third through substitute year-old Campbell, who spent last season on loan at Olympiakos BELO HORIZONTE: James Rodriguez rounded off a convinc- Marcos Urena to throw Group D, which also features England and from Arsenal, firing in a superbly controlled drive from Cristian ing 3-0 win for Colombia over Greece as the South Americans Italy, wide open. Uruguay’s Maxi Pereira was red-carded in injury Gamboa’s cross. It got better three minutes later when Duarte made light of the absence of injured striker Radamel Falcao in time to compound his team’s misery. Uruguay had the ball in the dived bravely at the feet of Christian Stuanito to head in a free- their opening Group C match at the World Cup yesterday. net after 15 minutes but Diego Godin’s effort was rightly ruled kick for a 2-1 lead. Substitute Urena latched on to a fine pass by Full-back Pablo Armero had given the Colombians-appearing out for offside. German referee Felix Brych called it right again in the influential Campbell in the 84th minute to make it 3-1 before at their first finals since 1998 - the lead in the fifth minute the 22nd minute when defender Junior Diaz was penalized for Pereira became the first player sent off at these finals for a wild while Teofilo Gutierrez’s 13th goal for his country shortly hauling down Uruguay skipper Diego Lugano in the box. Up lunge on Campbell. — AFP before the hour mark wrapped up the three points. Rodriguez, nicknamed the ‘new kid’ as he is seen as the suc- cessor to legend Carlos Valderrama, known as ‘the kid’, round- ed off an impressive performance with a sweet left footed Nepalese pay a terrible price shot in time added on. Armero’s goal was the fastest in Colombia’s five appear- ances at a World Cup finals, beating the 19 minutes it took in Qatar World Cup build-up another defender Francisco Zuluaga to score against Uruguay in the 1962 finals in Chile. Colombia coach Jose Pekerman, who KATHMANDU: A broken leg, a metal crutch and piles of ticket home to Kathmandu. guided his native Argentina to the quarter-finals in 2006, said paper testifying to his fight for justice: all reminders of he was delighted with the performance. “We were strong Bhupendra Malla’s stint working for a Qatari construction ‘No choice’ going forward, we had a nice style of play and we created sev- firm, ahead of the 2022 World Cup. As the 32-nation tour- Malla’s victory against his employers was a rare silver lining eral chances,” said the 64-year-old. “The crucial thing was that nament gets under way in Brazil, the oil-rich emirate of in a tale tainted by tragedy. Campaigners say many migrants everyone did the job they were tasked with and that allowed Qatar has come under fire for allegedly bribing officials to in Qatar endure brutal conditions, with no relief in sight. “They us to play calmly. secure 2022 hosting rights and over the abusive conditions have to work 18-19 hours a day and then they do not get “This result is very important for us and sets us up well for endured by migrant workers like Malla. proper food, proper accommodation... and because of this the rest of the group stage.” Greece’s Portuguese coach Three years ago, Malla was desperate to leave his village in fact their health goes down”, said Yubraj Nepal of the Fernando Santos conceded that the Colombians had been worthy winners. “They caused us a lot of problems from the central Nepal. Drowning in debt after a failed attempt to open Kathmandu-based migrant rights group, Pravasi Nepali Co- opening minutes,” said the 59-year-old. “We did get back into a shop, the prospect of a job in the Gulf state that would clear ordination Committee. Some pay the ultimate price, returning the game and the end result was a little bit unfair.” It took his loans and fund the education of his three children seemed home in coffins, with documents listing “cardiac arrest” as the Colombia just five minutes to send their fans wild. With Falcao like his only way out. “I could barely make ends meet, my leading cause of death. watching from the stands, great work down the right by Juan father was a farmer but farming doesn’t pay and I needed to According to government data at least 360 Nepalese work- Cuadrado outwitted the Greek defense and a step over by find another way to feed my family,” Malla told AFP in ers have died in Qatar in the last two years. The International Gutierrez saw the ball come to Armero. The 27-year-old full- Kathmandu. Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) warned this month that as back fired in a weak shot which took a deflection off a defend- Like hundreds of others who leave the Himalayan nation many as 4,000 migrant workers might be killed by the time er and past ‘keeper Orestis Karnezis. every day in search of jobs, Malla headed for Qatar, where the 2022 tournament kicks off. But the spiraling figures have The goal sparked an energetic goalline celebratory dance demand for labor has skyrocketed in the run-up to the World done little to dissuade others from seeking employment in routine which drew in the players on the bench as well. Greece, Cup. The shock decision to award the hosting rights to the tiny the booming Gulf nation. Scores of men line up every morn- whose leading striker Kostas Mitroglou was left on the bench Gulf state triggered a massive construction boom and an exo- ing outside the Department of Foreign Employment in as he battles for full fitness after suffering a knee injury, had lit- dus of Nepalese migrant workers to cope with the upsurge in Kathmandu, waiting for work permits. Many, like Lal Bahadur tle to offer up front. However, one bustling run from Celtic’s related infrastructure projects. The 32-year-old says he was Sunar, work in Qatar and say they have little alternative. “We Georgios Samaras set up Panagiotis Kone but he had to stretch one of a dozen men housed in a room measuring four by four have no choice, we have to go overseas. We can’t get good for the ball and his effort curled harmlessly wide. Kone made a meters (12 by 12 feet) and was paid no wages during his first jobs, good money here,” Sunar said. far better fist of it right at the end of the first-half as once again four months in the country, sending him deeper into debt. Nepal’s government says it wants to resolve the problem Samaras’s physical approach unnerved the Colombian defense But his nightmare had only just begun. A month later, he but argues it can’t do much on its own. “At the ground level, and laid the ball back to his team-mate. nearly died when his legs were crushed in a workplace acci- the responsibility lies with the local recruiting agency here The 26-year-old fired in a powerful shot towards the top dent. After six operations, his employers refused to pay any and the employer over there,” Rabindra Mohan Bhattarai, for- right hand corner but Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina compensation and confiscated his passport, unless he agreed mer Director-General of the Department of Foreign produced a superb two handed diving save to deny him. If the to leave the country on their terms. Malla took them to court, Employment said. Since returning to Nepal, former migrant Greeks needed any encouragement to rescue the situation the representing himself since he couldn’t afford a lawyer. “I had a worker Malla hasn’t been able to find a job but says nothing fans provided them with it wielding a banner which read ‘We family to feed, I needed money, so I fought for two and a half could persuade him to return to Qatar. “When I was stuck won’t say Greeks play like heroes, we say heroes play like years. During that time, I sometimes felt that I would just rot there, I thought I would die without seeing my wife’s and kids’ Greeks’. However, apart from one vain call for a penalty by BELO HORIZONTE: Greece’s forward Georgios Samaras (right) and die there,” he said. The court ruled in his favor: he secured faces again... unless Qatar treats workers better I don’t think Samaras the Greeks were incapable of threatening the vies with Colombia’s midfielder Abel Aguilar during a Group $33,000 in damages, got his passport back and a one-way the World Cup should be held there”. — AFP Colombian goal and it was the South Americans who C football match between Colombia and Greece at the deservedly doubled their lead through Gutierrez. — AFP Mineirao Arena in Belo Horizonte yesterday. — AFP