Costa Rica – there is a certain magical quality about the name itself. After Sunday’s eventful match at the World Cup, that quality is certain to acquire mystical proportions.
Used to playing beautiful, flowing football, Costa Rica found themselves confronted by Greece, whose European-style bloody-minded defence left the Central Americans initially rattled.
But they quickly adopted their rivals’ tactics and beat the Europeans at their own ugly game, matching them tackle for tackle and relying on several superb saves by man-of-the-match goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
The Los Ticos now look ahead to the biggest game of their lives against the mighty Netherlands, filled with confidence after besting other traditional powerhouses like Uruguay, Italy and England in the group stage.
Their self-belief grew even stronger on Sunday despite having their backs against the wall for almost an hour after defender Oscar Duarte received a red card for two bookable offences in the 66th minute.
Just staying competitive in the final 24 minutes of normal time was a challenge. The ten Costa Rica players on the field showed great determination defending wave after wave of Greek attacks, with Navas pulling off a string of wonderful saves.
When Greece pulled back the equaliser in the first minute of extra time it looked like they would go on to clinch the win, just as the Netherlands had done in Sunday’s earlier game against Mexico.
But they held on until extra time, and despite looking completely drained, they followed coach Jorge Luis Pinto’s instructions to thwart the Greek attacks and take the game to penalties.
“We had faith to take it to penalties because we trust our strikers and our extraordinary goalkeeper,” Pinto said.
Whether Costa Rica and its star players like Bryan Ruiz, Christian Bolanos and Navas will be enough to tame the Netherlands is another question. But Bolanos believes it’s within their ability.
“Why can we not see Costa Rica reaching the final?” he said. “I have the feeling we can go further. Costa Rica is still enjoying the World Cup. Costa Rica has shocked the world. We can achieve even greater things.”
That would really turn the world upside down and put the Central Americans in a league of their own.
It’s not they not in a league of their own, minus the football. Once one of the poorest countries in the world, Costa Rica is now one of the most stable and prosperous nations in the world. In a region which has had its own share of political instability, Costa Rica is a shining example of peace and human development which is so at ease with itself that it is one among a handful of nations which has no army, having constitutionally abolished it way back in 1949.
In 2009, it was named the happiest as well as the greenest country in the world, and although winning the World Cup title is a tough ask, with mighty Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands and Germany among the favourites, a victory against the Dutch in the quarter-finals would truly put them in the company of legends.