When the Costa Rican squad arrived in Brazil before the World Cup began, they landed with little fanfare, hardly any media buzz, and most of the talk about them (if any) centered around what many assumed was their role as the whipping boys of Group D, where they were matched up with Italy, Uruguay, and England.
It only took about one half of football for some eyebrows to be raised, as Los Ticos demonstrated good defensive discipline and were only one careless play away from holding the Uruguayans scoreless in the opening half. A 2nd half explosion of 3 goals left Uruguay and most of the footballing world stunned, and all of a sudden, Costa Rica was in a solid position to qualify for the knockout stages.
The Netherlands, by contrast, came in as a dark horse for the tournament. With many returning members from the 2010 squad that fell at the final hurdle to Spain – the 3rd Dutch squad to lose in a World Cup Final – they were surely eager to go one better this time. Arjen Robben especially looked like a man on a mission in the group stages, leading them as they dismantled the defending champions among others en route to this matchup.
Shortly after kickoff, the pattern was clear. Costa Rica was going to abandon all pretense of going for the win, and were perfectly content to sit back and retain their defensive shape to deny the Dutch. In Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz, they also had players who were capable of taking quick advantage of any Dutch mistakes in midfield and force quick counters.
The official match statistics at the end of this game tell the story: Oranje had the clear advantage in nearly all the important statistical categories – 64-36 possession, 15 attempts on target to 3, 18 crosses into the penalty area, and Costa Rica was forced into 24 clearances. The most important statistic, however, remained unchanged: 0-0.
Named La Liga Goalkeeper of the Year by Goal.com this past season, Keylor Navas provided further evidence of the high level of CONCACAF goalkeeping today as time and again, he denied Dutch players the chance to celebrate a goal.
Even when Navas was nowhere near the ball, the woodwork got in the way, and ace striker Robin van Persie will be left scratching his head wondering how he did not score on this effort in time added on:
On to extra-time we went, and even as legs grew weary, the pattern held as it had through 90 minutes, with numerous chances and half-chances created, with Costa Rica’s defense holding strong or Navas getting in the way:
As time ticked down and penalties seemed inevitable, Wesley Sneijder had one last glorious chance in the 119th minute:
Alas, it was not meant to be, and so it was on to soccer’s version of Russian Roulette: the penalty shootout. Louis van Gaal made a surprising move by subbing in goalkeeper Tim Krul for Jasper Cilissen with about a minute left. This move seemed all the more odd, given that Krul had a poor track record of saving penalties in his club career, with only 2 saves to show out of 20 penalty attempts against him during his time in the Premiership.
Krul demonstrated a bit of gamesmanship bordering on poor sportsmanship by getting in the face of Costa Rica’s penalty takers and unfortunately, the referee did nothing to stop him from doing this. Celso Borges and van Persie converted the first kicks for their teams, and then Ruiz stepped up for Costa Rica’s 2nd attempt:
The next 5 kicks were all converted, and Michael Umaña stepped up in a must-score situation for Costa Rica to extend the shootout:
Just like that, the Netherlands advanced to a dream semifinal against Argentina. The final score officially stands at 0-0, and so Costa Rica will be going home without having lost a match. In the process the Ticos have done their country proud, a star has been born in Navas, and they have also helped raise the profile of the CONCACAF region, which has long been perceived as being the domain purely of two regional powers – the US and Mexico.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands will be left with the next 4 days to figure out exactly why and how they were unable to put this game away long before the penalties were needed. Against a team with better attacking options up top, they would have been left ruing their missed chances and been planning their trip home by now.
(GIF credits: @FlyByKnite, highlighthub.com)
Photo Credit: Hassan Ammar/AP
