World Cup 2014 Team Spotlight – Costa Rica
This Central American nation is the minnow in Group D. Unfortunately, someone has to be.
COSTA RICA
Group D: Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy
Most capped (active): Michael Umana (82)
Top scorer (active): Celso Borges (14)
Odds to win 2014 World Cup: 1000/1
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The Costa Ricans have a couple of strong footballers in their own right, but they won’t have the firepower to keep up with the English and the Italians and the Uruguayans.
Probably the most important player in the nation’s quest for World Cup respectability is attacking midfielder Bryan Ruiz, the team captain who has been playing his club football at Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, on loan from Fulham. Ruiz possesses a slick skill-set and has the ability to score on any ‘keeper in the world.
Due to Costa Rica’s lack of quality depth, however, opponents will be able to key in on him.
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To be fair, Costa Rica has always been one of the stronger footballing nations in Central America. There is some heavy MLS representation in Costa Rica’s squad – Roy Miller plays for the New York Red Bulls and Giancarlo Gonzalez and Waylon Francis represent the Columbus Crew – so there are some high-level professional players in the mix.
Call-up Bryan Oviedo also plays for Everton in the Premier League.
Regardless, when Costa Rica is running up against the top players in Italy, England and Uruguay; indeed, some of the elite representation in the world’s best club leagues, there are bound to be problems.
Costa Rica’s most solid unit on the team is probably its defending, which is a bit of relief considering they will square off against the likes of Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani, Wayne Rooney, Mario Balotelli and others.
Those defenders – which include veteran Michael Umana and some German and Belgian pro experience – must have the tournament of their lives if Costa Rica is to pull an upset in this Group.
Prediction: 4th in Group D
Costa Rica will more than likely go winless in Group D, as that nation will be the team the other Group D competitors beat up on in order to strengthen their chances of moving forward.
It’s surely no fun being a minnow, but in the grand scheme of things, being a tiny nation like Costa Rica (with a population around 4.5 million) it’s a nice accomplishment to simply qualify for the world’s penultimate soccer tournament.
