The Costa Rican under-20 national soccer team is proving that despite the dark clouds hanging over the chances of the men's national team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, the next generation of Costa Rican soccer looks bright.

The Costa Rican under-20 team beat Egypt 2-0 Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2009 U-20 World Cup. The qualification for the quarterfinals is the furthest the Costa Rican U-20 has ever advanced in the World Cup.

“We have a very close group on this team,” Costa Rica coach Ronald González said. “Most of them have played together for about two years. When games get tight or close, the guys trust each other. I think that's what helped them hold on for the win today.”

In the 22nd minute, the Ticos opened the scoring when midfielder David Guzman sent a curling free kick into the box, where it was deflected towards the back post and met there by team captain José Mena, who dove to head the ball into the back of the net. The goal silenced the crowd of 71,000 Egyptian fans in the capitol city of Cairo, but seemed to energize the Egyptian team, who applied relentless pressure on the Costa Rican defense and goal for the remainder of the first half. Many attempts on goal missed wide or over the bar, while every effort made on target was snared or deflected by Costa Rican goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado, who was stellar throughout the match.

In the second half, Egypt continued to apply pressure on the Costa Rican defense, but they were unable to find a way past Alvarado. The 6'3'' keeper made save after save to thwart Egypt's efforts, including a sprawling save in the 82nd minute off a well-struck free kick.

As the game neared its close, Egypt pushed more players forward, leaving themselves bare for a Costa Rican counterattack. And in the 88th minute, the Ticos capitalized. After a nifty move to beat one Egyptian defender, midfielder Diego Estrada slipped a pass to forward Marco Ureña, who struck a first-time blast into the opposite corner of the net to seal the win for the Ticos.

As the Ticos celebrated their unlikely win, dejected Egyptian players and fans remained in the stadium, some with their heads in their hands, some in tears, mourning the team's lost opportunity to achieve greater success in their home-country World Cup.

Costa Rica will play in the quarterfinals on Saturday, Oct. 10, against the winner of the match between the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela, which will be played Wednesday.

For Guatemalan activist Rigoberta Menchú, the Honduran crisis stretches beyond the country's jagged borders, green mountains and far-reaching farmlands.

The Nobel Peace Prize recipient, who became human rights icon after her advocacy work during the Guatemalan Civil War, said the issue can't be limited to Honduras.

“It's a profound crisis. It's an ideological crisis. It's a political crisis,” she said, speaking before reporters in San José on Tuesday. “But it is also a crisis that belongs to Central America.”

She said the situation must be studied, turned over and analyzed again so that it doesn't become a “concern for our children.”

We must prevent “a tomorrow in which any madman says, ‘I don't like this government,' overthrows it and is legitimized by an election,” she said.

Meeting with academics, a representative from the Honduran media and political analysts on Tuesday, Menchú denounced the de facto government, called for greater intervention on the behalf of the United States and praised the efforts of the Organization of American States (OAS) along with fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipient Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica.

She criticized the United States for not being “more congruent” or “clear” in its position, believing that the northern superpower should intervene “not to resolve the crisis, but to create a ‘free zone'” where persons and institutions that resist the de facto government could seek asylum.

With the return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Sept. 21, the situation has grown tenser, boiling over into moments of violence as the feuding parties meet face to face.

Ismael Moreno, who joined Menchú on the panel on Tuesday, and works as the director of Radio Progreso in Honduras, said he's never before seen the level of repression he's experienced in the country over the past few months.

“I was a witness to many conflicts in the 80s, in Nicaragua, in Guatemala, in El Salvador,” he said. “And I want to tell you that I have never experienced an environment of as much repression and terror as I lived in Honduras in these three months.”

Recounting stories of repression in the case of a religious figure who was captured during one of the demonstrations and dragged by his hair and of a young mother who was raped by several soldiers, Moreno criticized the de facto government for covering up the reality of the situation.

Meanwhile, the OAS has named a new delegation of foreign ministers who will arrive in Honduras Wednesday in attempt to break the stalemate in Honduras. The delegation includes the organization's secretary general, José Miguel Insulza; foreign ministers from Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Panama; and top diplomats from Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Brazil.

Nicaragua intends on developing solar power as a way to ease up on its petroleum dependency.

“Four photovoltaic (solar) projects are moving forward in order to generate solar power in the country. Among them are the Euro Solar program, which will benefit 42 communities (some 7,000 families) in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region,” Energy and Mining Vice Minister Lorenza Lanzas said.

Euro Solar, a cooperation program under the European Union's EuropeAid, is carrying out similar solar projects throughout Latin America to reach 600 of the region's most isolated communities, according to a news release from the EU agency.

“In this project more than $2 million are being invested by the European Union and $400,000 by the government of Nicaragua,” Lanzas said.

The vice minister said experts in the solar energy field were to meet in Managua this week to share experiences and discuss the barriers that have held Central America back in solar power development.

Proponents of solar energy seek to limit Nicaragua's dependency on petroleum, which now provides 80 percent of the country's energy needs.

Fishermen from Puntarenas, a port town on Costa Rica's central Pacific coast, are seeking to create a community marine fishing area off the coast of nearby Tárcoles de Garabito.

Their proposal would place restrictions on which species of fish can be caught – and during which time of year fisherman can catch them – within a 19,600-hectare area at the mouth of the Gulf of Nicoya.

CoopeSoliDar R.L., a cooperative consulting group, has been monitoring the gulf for the past five years and keeping track of the numbers of various types of fish, according to a news release from the Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA).

Based on a database created by CoopeSoliDar, fishermen would not be allowed to catch fish that have seen reductions in population, and would be restricted from catching other species during spawning season.

The hope is to manage the area well enough to allow populations to recuperate while not completely restricting fishing in the area, as would be the case if the gulf received national park status.

“This is a fundamental step en the acknowledgement of our rights as small scale fisherman, our food supply and the strengthening of our cultural identity,” said the proposal, signed by 30 local fishermen.

INCOPESCA and the Costa Rican Coast Guard would enforce the restrictions.