During a March vacation to Costa Rica, the driver of the van hauling us through the countryside offered a simple explanation as to the layout of almost every town we passed through. The Holy Trinity he called it: the church, the bar and the soccer pitch.
Many fans of the Costa Rican national team were probably seeking refuge in one (or both) of those first two institutions after learning the fate of Los Ticos in the World Cup seeding draw. My informal polling of drivers, bartenders and hotel staff revealed a sense of frustration surrounding what, up to that point, had been a reasonably impressive qualifying campaign. A recent survey by the firm Cid Gallup found only 19% of Costa Ricans believe their team will advance to the round of 16.
So, can they?
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Costa Rican soccer enjoyed something of a mini-renaissance in the aughts, at least in terms of qualifying for the World Cup. The 2014 edition in Brazil would have been the country’s fourth-straight appearance in the vast majority of parallel universes in which U.S. striker Jonathan Bornstein didn’t hand Honduras an unexpected ticket to the 2010 dance by sucker punching Costa Rica with an injury time equalizer in Washington D.C.
This time around, Costa Rica managed home victories over Mexico and the U.S. that helped them to a second-place finish in the Hex. (Of course, 2014 qualifying in Concacaf will be forever measured in terms of how awful Mexico was.) The side only conceded seven goals through 10 games of Hex qualifying, fewest of the group, and boasts some of the best European-based players from Concacaf not belonging to the U.S. or Mexico, such as Bryan Ruiz, Levante’s keeper Keylor Navas and the on-loan Arsenal forward Joel Campbell.
It would not have been totally crazy to imagine them repeating their famous feat of 1990 and advancing to the last 16, ideally helped along by a benevolent draw. But instead of luck, the Central American nation sits sweating in something that actually does justice to that hackneyed term ‘Group of Death,’ or Grupo del Muerte as the Costa Rican press immediately dubbed the predicament the Ticos found themselves in with England, Uruguay and Italy.
The official reaction was defiance, summed up by manager Jorge Luis Pinto, who said: “Entre más bravo sea el toro mejor es la corrida,” which loosely translates to, the stronger the bulls the better the bullfight. (Keen readers will note that among the replies of encouragement is one sly devil advising the Costa Ricans to bring a lot of Vaseline.)
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Jorge Luis Pinto: "Entre más bravo sea el toro mejor es la corrida"</p>— FEDEFUTBOL (@FEDEFUTBOL_CR) <a href="
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The team
As if the draw wasn't depressing enough, Costa Ricans recently learned their current leading scorer and most-capped player, Real Salt Lake's Alvaro Saborio, would miss the World Cup due to a foot injury. That likely means Joel Campbell will act as the tip of an attack supported by Bryan Ruiz, Christian Bolanos and Marco Ureña. He cut a solitary figure up front in last week's 3-1 loss against Japan, and according to Pinto, the other attacking midfielders in his 4-3-3 slash 4-2-3-1 formation must adopt a more fluid and interchangeable approach once the World Cup opens against Uruguay on June 14.
Friday's 1-1 draw with Ireland in Philadelphia probably offered a better showcase of how Costa Rica will approach its Group D opponents (minus the expulsion of defender Giancarlo Gonzalez) -- ie. defend lustily and take your chances. The Ticos fought back from both a man and a goal down through a penalty produced by a nice interchange between Urena and Campbell. In a wide-ranging interview way back in January, Pinto highlighted Costa Rica’s “defensive order” as key to progressing past the group stage, and has returned to this theme in several interview since. The sports daily Al Dia took one look at the 26 players (featuring 10 defenders and five defensive midfielders) Pinto named to his initial squad and proclaimed Costa Rica's opponents "will crash into a defensive wall," and have to sweat a whole lot in order to score. We would certainly hope so, given they playing in a tropical climate.
The bullfight
Writing as a sane individual, it's hard to fathom a situation in which Costa Rica advances to the last 16. According to the bookies at bet365.com, the team faces the longest odds of any to advance from their group at 16-1. Costa Rica's chances probably depend more on the other teams. Confidence could be drawn from the fact Costa Rica only narrowly lost to Uruguay in a two-legged playoff at the end of 2009 during World Cup qualification. England is England, and Italy is prone to self-destruction occasionally. It could happen, but likely won't.
Maybe the roughly one-fifth of the Costa Rican population still confident their team can emerge from Group D consists of the same segment that actively participates in the Central American nation's unique version of the bullfight. Unlike its more famous Spanish and Mexican cousins, the Costa Rican bullfight does not actually involve killing the bull. It involves poking, prodding, running drunkenly around and riding the bull, but not killing it. As detailed in this SB Nation piece, often many people jump in the ring to participate. The point isn’t to kill the animal, it’s to escape alive.
In this context Pinto's bullfight metaphor to describe World Cup's Group D makes more sense. Just as any human would lean heavily on wits, balls and good fortune when placed in direct physical competition with an angry male Bos taurus, it's clear Costa Rica will do the same. The Ticos won't so much aim to slay their storied rivals as give them a frustrating run around in the sweltering heat. And maybe somewhere amid the sweat and the confusion, Costa Rica's luck will turn.
Grant Surridge focuses much of his writing for CSN on the Spanish-speaking Concacaf world. You can follow him on twitter @SCGGrant