Team overview
By Paul Tenorio | @PaulTenorio |
Costa Rica emerged as one of the best stories at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The tiny Central American nation made a run to the World Cup quarterfinals by beating Uruguay and Italy and drawing England to win its group. The reward for finishing atop Group D was a match-up with Holland, and it would eventually take penalties to knock out the CONCACAF giant-beaters. By then, though, the Ticos and their “Pura Vida” attitude had captured new fans around the globe. It was a tournament that made a country proud, and also announced Costa Rica as a formidable opponent worldwide.
Costa Rica has long been known within CONCACAF as a consistently difficult team to beat, and it’s established itself as perhaps the third-best team in the region behind Mexico and the U.S. That’s continued through World Cup qualifying, where the Ticos currently sit atop Group 2 with a 3-0-1 record, the lone blemish a 1-1 draw with Jamaica.
It’s a team that has also benefited from the development of MLS, where several Ticos have found success, including Kendall Waston, Ronald Matarrita, Christian Bolaños, Waylon Francis, Johan Venegas and Alvaro Saborio – all of whom were named to Costa Rica’s 40-man preliminary roster.
Key player
Goalkeeper Keylor Navas. The man between the pipes for Costa Rica was probably the biggest reason for its run to Brazil’s quarterfinals.
Navas was on the shortlist for the Golden Glove award in Brazil, though it eventually went to Germany’s Manuel Neuer. He put up three clean sheets in five games and pushed Costa Rica through a penalty kick shootout against Greece. The performance earned Navas a contract with Real Madrid, which bought him out of his Levante deal for 10 million euros.
After playing in just six La Liga games last season, Navas took over the starting role this year and has 12 shutouts in 33 La Liga games, posting a 0.85 goals against average while also helping Real Madrid to the Champions League final. Navas did not allow a goal at home in Champions League play.
If there is going to be a player that gets Costa Rica to the knockout stages and beyond with his individual performances, it’s the same one who did so in the World Cup: Navas.
Manager spotlight
When Costa Rican legend Paulo Wanchope was forced to resign after getting in a fight in the stands during an Olympic qualifier, the country turned to another of its legends. Very few players are held in such high esteem by Ticos as Oscar Ramírez, who starred for both powerhouse clubs in the country: Alajuelense and Saprissa. He coached Alajuela to three consecutive Primera División titles earlier this decade before joining the Costa Rica staff and earning a quick promotion to the top job when the Wanchope fallout went down.
Since taking over last August, Ramírez has done well to turn around a team that found itself in a very poor run of form that included a nine-game winless streak.
Ramírez lost his first game as coach, 1-0, to Brazil, but he has taken a 6-3-1 record in his 10 games in charge of the program and has the team atop its World Cup qualifying group. The Ticos have regained their top defensive form under Ramírez; they have yet to give up more than one goal in a game in his charge.
If Costa Rica can maintain that defensive presence at the Copa, the Ticos should prove a tough out in a tough group.
Success looks like…
A run that mirrors or surpasses the World Cup triumphs.
Group A has been called the Group of Death in this tournament, in part because of Costa Rica’s bite and the memories of what the team did two years ago. Still, the Ticos have to think they can emerge by beating the likes of Paraguay and their regional rival, the U.S.
This group, despite its challenges, still falls short of what Costa Rica faced in Brazil, were the team was initially seen as an afterthought. No one will make that mistake in this tournament, least of all the U.S., but Costa Rica must get off to a strong start in its first game against Paraguay.
To do so, they’ll need standout performances from two men in particular: Navas as well as Arsenal’s Joel Campbell, who was one of the country’s top performers in the World Cup as a target striker.
Getting out of the group and making a run at whichever team it faces in the second round will be a enough to live up to the reputation the Ticos earned two summers ago.
Failure looks like…
Falling short of the knockout stages, and with flat performances.
The Ticos understand the dynamics of a tournament like this, but a standard was set in the World Cup, and the country surely expects the team to at least emerge from its group in a weaker field. Failure to do so would be seen as a massive letdown, but to finish in last place or turn out weak performances in the Copa would draw more ire than anything else.
This team has many of the same pieces as that 2014 run; just one player who was in the starting lineup against the Netherlands in that quarterfinal was not on the 40-man preliminary roster: former Columbus Crew defender Giancarlo Gonzalez, who was a surprising omission, but was left off after requesting to get a break following his season with Palermo in Italy.
With the same pieces in place, the belief that Costa Rica can attain similar results is not unfounded, and a fourth-place finish in the group would be seen within the country as a big step backwards. Extra emphasis will be placed on turning in a good performance against the Americans.
