Costa Rica, behind new coach René Simoes, emphatically revived their World Cup qualifying hopes by thumping Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) 4-0 in their CONCACAF World Cup qualifying match at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium on Saturday night.

Alvaro Soborio netted two second-half goals and assisted on another as the Ticos snapped a three-game losing streak in a fine start to the campaign of Brazilian Simoes.

The result against already eliminated T&T lifted Costa Rica from fourth to third in the CONCACAF series with 15 points, trailing the USA (19) and Mexico (18), who both secured spots to the 2010 Finals in South Africa with wins on Saturday night.

Mexico hammered El Salvador (4-1) and the United States scored a dramatic 3-2 win over Honduras in the penultimate round of CONCACAF qualifying.

The top three finishers from CONCACAF automatically qualify for South Africa and the fourth-place team will tackle the fifth-place team in South America - currently Uruguay - in a two-way play-off next month for a spot in South Africa 2010.

Costa Rica will now tussle with Honduras (13) for that third automatic spot.

Final game

The Costa Ricans will play their final game against the already qualified USA in Washington on Wednesday, while Honduras will travel to play already eliminated El Salvador.

Looking superior in the first half, Costa Rica went ahead on 27 minutes through an own-goal by Radanfah Abubakr.

It became 2-0 in the 50th minute when Walter Centeno - converting a cross from Saborio - notched his 23rd career goal for the Ticos, and Saborio's two-goal burst soon after, killed the Caribbean side's resistance.

The Soca Warriors ended the game with 10 men after James was shown a red card in the 65th for a clash with Centeno.

Costa Rica missed a chance to win 5-0 when Randall Azofeifa's penalty was saved by goalkeeper Marvin Phillip.

For the match, Simoes had brought defender Luis Marin, captain of Costa Rica's last two World Cup teams, out of international retirement and called up 35-year-old Fonseca, the Ticos' all-time leading scorer.

Simoes had dropped the Italy-based Gilberto Martinez, reportedly for spending Sunday night at a beach hotel without Simoes' permission.

Trinidad and Tobago will close out their campaign against Mexico on Wednesday in Port-of-Spain.