Their first appearance in a World Cup may have been as recently as 1990, but who could forget Costa Rica?
In the last tournament held in Brazil, the side nicknamed “Los Ticos” made it as far as the quarter-finals after the minnows were initially given a 2500-1 chance of lifting the trophy by the bookmakers. In a group that contained England, Uruguay and Italy, they unbelievably managed to top the group with two wins and a 0-0 draw with England as both European sides crashed out.
After dismissing Greece on penalties in the round of 16, the team spearheaded by Coach Jorge Luis Pinto made it through to the quarter-final stage for the first time ever, bravely fighting for a 0-0 draw with the Netherlands after extra time. This time they would lose the shoot-out however, but would take their leave from Brazil with heads held high.
After Pinto left shortly afterwards to take charge of Honduras, assistant boss and former Manchester City striker Paulo Wanchope was promoted to head Coach, only to lose his job shortly after following a brawl with a steward. His assistant Oscar Ramirez was then duly promoted, and has remained in place ever since, overseeing their qualification to this summer’s tournament.
Ramirez was in the squad for his nation’s first ever World Cup in 1990, part of the side that pulled off a shock result, beating Scotland 1-0 in the opening Group C match played at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa.
“There was anger, there was disappointment. I still remember that vividly,” pondered Craig Brown – assistant to Andy Roxburgh in 1990 – to the Guardian back in 2014. “The media did and still do influence fans. If they say things then supporters tend to buy into it. The fans were all told Costa Rica were a poor team, it was a black-and-white scenario where apparently they were only there to be thumped. The reality was different.”
The theme of Costa Rica being happy to play the underdog role at major tournaments seems to be ever-present, their current squad of players mainly based in the MLS or their own league doing nothing to prevent them being written off once again this year.
“Since 1990 there has been a big development of Costa Rican football and, of course, our more recent reference is what we did in Brazil in 2014,” said Ramirez to reporters before a friendly match with Scotland in Glasgow last Friday. “Of course there is some expectation that we win this game. But we have to compromise with that and show some things we will do in the World Cup.”
Friendlies played during the current international break do little to give us a clue either, a 1-0 victory in that match versus an experimental Scotland side followed up by a 1-0 defeat by Tunisia on Tuesday evening. Perhaps the only insight is that Ramirez admitted his starting XI for the World Cup would be the same one deployed from the beginning in Glasgow.
That they are in a group with Brazil, Switzerland and Serbia perhaps indicates that Los Tigos won’t make it into the knockout stages this time around. However, as always, it seems like this side are ready to bring forth the element of surprise.