miaowang123: on its current five-game East Coast road trip. It plays

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RECIFE, Brazil -- Costa Rica has turned the table on the teams World Cup expectations. Chris Bassitt Jersey . Or at least on everyone elses expectations. Costa Rica followed up its surprise win over Uruguay with another World Cup stunner on Friday, beating four-time champion Italy 1-0 to secure a spot in the next round and eliminate England in the process. After entering the tournament as an expected underdog in a group featuring three former world champions, Costa Rica is now on top. "Maybe there are a lot of people who didnt have faith in us because we were in the Group of Death, said Costa Rica captain Bryan Ruiz, who scored the key goal. "But the other guys are the ones who are dead and were going to the next round." Ruiz gave his side the lead in the 44th minute, heading in off the underside of the crossbar following a cross from Junior Diaz. Goal-line technology was used to show that the ball bounced down and in after hitting the bar. There was a frenetic end to the first half, as moments before Ruizs goal Costa Rica had a penalty appeal waved away when striker Joel Campbell was bundled over by Giorgio Chiellini. Costa Rica leads Group D with six points, while Italy and Uruguay have three each before Tuesdays showdown. England has zero points after losing to Italy and Uruguay. Italy (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), Uruguay (1930, 1950) and England (1966) have won a combined seven World Cups. Costa Ricas only other appearance in the knockout phase came in its World Cup debut in 1990, when it beat Sweden and Scotland under experienced coach Bora Milutinovic before ultimately getting eliminated by Czechoslovakia. "Those who havent supported us may believe in us right now," Ruiz said. Italy, meanwhile, can still advance with a win or even a draw with Uruguay, since it leads on goal difference which is the first qualifying criteria. "We gave our all. They did well to block every pass," Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said. "Theres no worry now. We just need to regain our energy." It was exactly 24 years ago to the day that Costa Rica beat Sweden 2-1 to advance at the tournament in Italy. "There are no more Cinderellas in football, especially in a competition like the World Cup," Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon said. It marked the fourth consecutive World Cup in which Italy failed to win its second match, although only in 2010 did the Azzurri not advance. "Well play a great match against Uruguay," second-half Italy substitute Antonio Cassano said. "Im convinced we will. ... If we regain our energy we can (advance) comfortably." While it was nowhere near as hot as Italy feared at the Arena Pernambuco -- 29 C (84 F) and 70 per cent humidity according to FIFA -- the Azzurri still struggled to keep up with the speedy Ticos for long stretches. Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto lined up five defenders but his squad was able advance forward with one swift, sweeping movement -- just like in the 3-1 win over Uruguay. "We did what we needed to do, we took away the game from the Italians," Pinto said. The Azzurri hardly threatened until Mario Balotelli had chances in the 31st and 33rd minutes. First, Balotelli was set up with a long, vertical pass from Andrea Pirlo and tried to lift the bouncing ball over the charging goalkeepers head but missed the target. Then the Azzurri forward had an effort from beyond the area stopped by goalkeeper Keylor Navas. "If we had scored goals on those two chances for Balotelli, the match would have changed," Prandelli said. Costa Rica kept its poise after the threats from Balotelli and in the 36th minute Buffon had to make a diving save to stop a shot from midfielder Christian Bolanos. In the 43rd, Chiellini made an uncharacteristic error -- gifting the ball to Campbell near midfield -- and then raced back and committed what appeared to be a clear foul. However, Chilean referee Enrique Osses motioned to play on. Prandelli attempted to stir things up by adding Cassano, Lorenzo Insigne and Alessio Cerci in the second half, providing the Azzurri with four forwards instead of just Balotelli, but the 2006 winners rarely came close to equalizing. "Its a deserved defeat," Prandelli said. "They were much more aggressive than us. They kept coming constantly and we werent able to stop them." ------ Italy: Gianluigi Buffon, Ignazio Abate, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini, Matteo Darmian, Daniele De Rossi, Antonio Candreva (Lorenzo Insigne, 57), Thiago Motta (Antonio Cassano, 46), Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio (Alessio Cerci, 69), Mario Balotelli. Costa Rica: Keylor Navas, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Michael Umana, Celso Borges, Oscar Duarte, Christian Bolanos, Joel Campbell (Marcos Urena, 74), Bryan Ruiz (Randall Brenes, 81), Junior Diaz, Cristian Gamboa, Yeltsin Tejeda (Jose Cubero, 67). Stitched Athletics Jerseys . Hamilton signed offensive linemen Mike Filer, Joel Reinders, Landon Rice and Carson Rockhill. Chris Bassitt Athletics Jersey . Best has been bothered by concussion problems and hasnt played since Oct. 16, when the Lions lost to San Francisco. After starting 5-0, Detroit has lost four of six, beginning with that game against the 49ers.NEWARK, N.J. - Though they have gotten off to a strong start this season, the San Jose Sharks believe they can be better.Logan Couture had a goal and two assists and Antti Niemi made 35 saves as the Sharks beat the pesky New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Saturday night.The win was the fourth in five games for the Sharks, but they had to sweat this one out after allowing a 3-0 lead to shrink to a goal with just under 8 minutes to play.Were winning games, but were not playing well, Couture said. We end up scrambling around at the end. I wont say panic, but we have to do a better job. Were giving up goals late. But wins in this league are hard to come by. We knew the schedule coming in and we knew it was going to be tough. Its good to win on the road and its good to have this kind of start.The Sharks put this one away because Niemi made three big saves down the stretch and Joe Thornton iced the game with an empty net goal — his 1,200th NHL.We made a couple of good power plays and made them stand up, Thornton said. Were looking real good right now. We have a group of positive guys and were getting really good goaltending right now. We have a group of loose guys who get along well. Things are good. A lot of teams are trying to find themselves early on. Were still looking for our identity as a team right now. Weve been on the road a lot of games and doing a real good job.Joe Pavelski added a goal and an assist and Patrick Marleau had the other goal for San Jose, which has picked up nine of a possible 10 points, losing only in a shootout to the New York Islanders.The Sharks, who are playing 16 of their first 21 games on the road, were cruising with a three-goal lead when Mike Cammalleri and Adam Henrique gave the sellout crowd of 16,592 something to cheer about, scoring in a 4:10 span to pull within one with 7:50 to play.Niemi made the lead stand with excellent stops on Cammalleri, Henrique and Damien Brunner before Thornton scored his first goal of the season with 1:14 remaining.Cory Schneider made 28 saves for the Devils in theeir home opener, including a glove stop on a penalty shot by Tommy Wingels with 3:44 to play and the New Jersey down a goal. Custom Oakland Athletics Jerseys. We had our chances, even in the second period we had our chances, Devils forward Jaromir Jagr said. They scored twice on the power play and we didnt. I dont think they outplayed us.Niemi, who has won all three of his starts, stopped the Devils first 27 shots before Cammalleri beat him with a shot from the right circle with 12 minutes to play. Henrique tallied with a pin-ball shot off a defender.The problem for the Devils was they were down 3-0, with Patrick Marleau pushing the lead to three with a hard shot on a counter attack early in the third period that hit off Schneiders arm at 1:36.Obviously, we have to do a few things better at the end, things that we would like to do better, Pavelski said. We would hopefully get a 3-0 win in a game like this.Pavelski and Couture had scored on the power play late in the first and second periods, respectively.Pavelski, who has goals in two of the last three games, got the Sharks on the board with 2:07 left in the first period, beating Schneider from in close after collecting the rebound of a Couture shot from the right circle.Couture got his first goal of the season with 2:08 remaining in the second period. Pavelski sent a pass from the right point to Marleau behind the red zone and he found Couture alone in front.NOTES: Devils RW Martin Havlat did not play because of facial lacerations. Brunner replaced him. ... The Sharks have scored first in all five games this season. ... San Jose is 2-0-1 on its current five-game East Coast road trip. It plays next at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night against the Rangers. ... The Devils dont play again until they host the Rangers on Tuesday. ... D Brent Burns had the secondary assist on the goal by Pavelski, and has points in all five games (1-6-7). ... The Devils are 2-4-2 in their home openers at the Prudential Center.___Follow Tom Canavan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APTCan ' ' '