Scouting Costa Rica

After being drawn in group D with former world champions England, Uruguay and Italy, few give Costa Rica any chance of surviving the group stage. But if you consider, as I do, that in modern football distances between national teams have narrowed, and if you’ve watched our qualifying process close enough, you might just find enough courage to get one of our – surely cheap – lads into your team. 

Stats for courage

Costa Rica finished second in the CONCACAF qualifiers, only behind the USA, relying on a solid defence that conceded only seven goals in the decisive stages; fewer than any other team in the area. We also scored 13 goals in this stage, the second best tally.

Against the area’s top dogs, Mexico and USA, Costa Rica had a good run with two wins, a draw and a defeat. The defeat came against USA in an unplayable match due to a snowstorm that somehow wasn’t suspended; making their one-goal lead definitive. This game didn’t come without a price and we took revenge by beating the north Americans 3-1 in our stadium.

Costa Rica usually does well in friendlies. Notably drawing 2-2 against a full strength Spain a couple of years ago  and 0-0 against Argentina.  Recently we beat Paraguay 2-1 in the farewell match for our boys.

System

Our manager Jorge Luis Pinto varies between a 4-2-3-1 and a 5-4-1 system, utilizing the latter in the tougher matches. It is safe to say that the Colombian will go for a five-man backline in every game in Brazil, making us difficult to beat.

Likely lads

I’m confident we will get a clean sheet, or at least I don’t see us getting destroyed in any of the three games, as some people might expect.

Under the three posts, stands the man many believe to be our best chance of going through. Keylor Navas has been arguably the best keeper in the Spanish league this season, with spectacular saves against the likes of Messi and Ronaldo. He’ll surely have a busy World Cup and the points for saves look inevitable (notwithstanding the hopeful clean sheet).

The five-man defensive line means every time we attack one of the full backs has complete freedom to go forward, meaning assists or even goals are in order. Christian Gamboa is the man you want. The lightning-fast right-back plays in Norway at Rosenborg BK, on loan from FC Copenhagen, and looked absolutely unstoppable in the qualifiers, especially against Mexico. Losing Everton’s Bryan Oviedo to a broken leg, means Giacarlo Gonzalez is the only other nailed-on defender. He’s by far our best defensive prospect and always an aerial threat.

Arsenal forward Joel Campbell, on loan at Olympiacos, is the best offensive option by a clear margin. The 21-year-old Gunner led Olympiacos to win the 2013-2014 Greek league. He was named in the league’s dream team after grabbing nine goals and 10 assists in all competitions; including a superb effort against Manchester United in the Champions League.  He has a share of free kicks and corners. Lastly, Bryan Ruiz is a name some of you might recognize from his time in Fulham. The Costa Rica skipper has also a share of set pieces and most of our attacks will go through him. He ended up in decent form in his current loan spell at PSV Eindoven.

Cheeky Punts

For a cheeky punt, keep an eye on Kendall Waston. The 1.96m defender has been scoring goals for fun from set pieces in the local league, and some consider him to be the answer for the crossing-based English style. If he finally manages to get on the plane to Brazil and in the starting 11, he’ll be a threat at every corner. It may seem strange to find our top scorer as a cheeky punt, since Alvaro Saborio scored 8 goals in 15 qualifying matches and has become one of Real Salt Lake’s main men in the MLS. But he’s been constantly the man sacrificed in order to switch to the 5-4-1 formation. Even though he’ll be an impact substitute in every game and has a good chance of scoring, it’s difficult to imagine him starting a game in Brazil.