There was no shimmy, no stutter, no hesitation.
He placed the ball down, a piece of grass stuck to his cheek courtesy of the sweat which dripped from his brow. With the game having reached penalty kicks following a 1-1 draw inside 120 minutes, both sets of players had already given everything they had.įorward came Michael Umana – a 31-year-old defender who plays in his home country with Deportivo Saprissa. Greece, also playing in the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time, fell the way of Uruguay and Italy on Sunday, beaten by a side playing with a confidence and belief that appears to be unshakable. “Think big” is the motto that Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto has always subscribed to.įor a small football nation, #CRC is going a long way by 'thinking big' - #CNNWorldCup /QnaX8xJmNr- CNN Football June 29, 2014Īnd the Colombian practices what he preaches – qualification from the group stage was always going to be achieved if you speak to those within the Costa Rican camp.īravado? A fool’s hope? No, this is a side which plays with a belief that comes straight from the very top and trickles through the veins of its players.īut it would be foolish to claim that this team has only succeeded because of the spirit which Pinto has engendered – it has talent too, lots of it. Perhaps they didn’t want to.įor all of the joking and laughing that Costa Rica would simply turn up in Brazil to make up the numbers, there were those who knew the reality would be different.
