It feels much longer than four summers ago from the moment – in the 121st minute of a scoreless World Cup quarter-final – that the Holland coach, Louis van Gaal, took off first-choice goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen for penalty specialist Tim Krul.
Had it backfired, Van Gaal’s decision would have gone down as one of the great World Cup gaffes. Instead, the swap rattled the opposing Costa Ricans, and Krul made two stops to vindicate his coach. Because the Dutch limply bowed out one round later, the episode has mostly been forgotten.
In Costa Rica, though, Van Gaal’s tactics, and the mind game they clearly played on Los Ticos, features prominently in the modern history of the national team. For four long years, the feeling of unfulfilled promise has festered. “We want to get to that stage again,” says defender Kendall Waston, “and even one further. We want to make it to the semi-finals.”
Give Costa Rica credit: Los Ticos are not shirking from the raised expectations they have set for themselves.
Having reached the quarters as the tournament’s underdogs in 2014, Costa Rica were always going to struggle with the encore. That was before the draw for Russia 2018, where they are in a group alongside the world’s sixth-best team (according to Fifa, at least) Switzerland, five-time champions Brazil and Serbia. Even if they manage to survive the group stage, Germany are likely to await in the last 16.
And yet Los Ticos are not tempering hype. Far from it: they view their exploits in 2014 as a launch pad toward grander accomplishments. After all, Costa Rica are not unfamiliar with unkind draws. Last time around, they were allotted into what many considered the Group of Death with Uruguay, Italy and England. Somehow, they finished ahead of each of those past champions, beating the Uruguayans and Italians before earning the draw they needed against the English on the final day to win the group. Greece were edged out on penalties in the last 16, making history and national heroes of the players even before the near miss against the Dutch.
Costa Rica became just the third country from Concacaf to ever reach the quarter-finals. Regional powerhouse Mexico have never made it any further. The United States once played in the semis, but that was way back in the event’s infancy in 1930. Costa Rica’s Cinderella story was unprecedented in Central American soccer history – and they technically went unbeaten in the tournament. Such feats were celebrated back home in a country that is all too accustomed to being overshadowed by much larger nations up north.
“That support that the team received pushed them,” said midfielder Rodney Wallace of New York City FC, who missed the 2014 tournament but has been named to the 23-man roster for Russia. “Costa Rica is a country that, when it gets together, does special things. It’s a small country, and we know how to take care of our own.”
Such solidarity would come in handy – and could be tested. Again, the draw is brutal. And though Los Ticos comfortably qualified for Russia, with is more than the US can say, recent friendly results are cause for concern. Costa Rica were blasted 5-0 by Spain last November, and though they have beaten Scotland and Northern Ireland in recent months, they also suffered defeats to Hungary and Tunisia.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas is a legitimate superstar, and a powerful role model in a country of fewer than five million people. A team can ride a strong keeper a long way.
“You feel safer knowing that he’s in goal,” Wallace said. “It means a lot to the country. It’s great for the players to see, not only us but the younger players, to know what Costa Ricans are capable of.”
Added Waston: “Having Keylor behind us is huge. We know what he represents. He makes us proud. Having him playing with our national team is an honor.”
The leading goalscorer from the 2014 run, midfielder Celso Borges of Deportivo La Coruna, is still around, as is forward Joel Campbell, then of Arsenal and now of Real Betis. Captain Bryan Ruiz might be 32, but on his day, the Sporting Lisbon attacker still possesses the quality to change games.
Overall, however, this team is probably too reliant on domestic-based and Major League Soccer talent to realistically dream of a push late into the knockout rounds. Instead of injecting the quarter-final team with fresh blood, Costa Rica’s squad has remained mostly stagnant. As far as key difference makers, this remains the same group, more or less, just four years older.
It is possible, a decade or so down the road, that the 2014 team will be looked at as the one that inspired a golden generation of Costa Ricans. Four years on, though, their legacy is too close to have made that kind of a difference– but then again, plenty of similarly pessimistic outlooks were undoubtedly penned in the weeks leading up to Brazil, too.
