CR has been in two WC's, we advanced in Italy 90 over Sweden and Scotland, and we finished 3rds in our group in 2002 behind Brazil (champion), and Turkey (3rd place), we had the same 4 points that turkey had, and we lost to goal differencial
this is how i look at it. for the game against germany if we play like we did against france than i can see a 1-0 win for us. we can upset like senegal did in the 1st game of 2002. the games against ecuador and poland are really tough ones too. ecuador is a team we've faced before. during qualifying they upset brazil and argentina but thank god the world cup isnt in ecuador or else we'd be screwed. against poland its going to be another tough game. but we can get a result just like we did against turkey in 2002. i would have loved to see costa rica get drawn into the group with france, switzerland and togo. atleast we didnt get drawn into group c, f, d, e or b. overall we're in a good group and im happy with it.
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Sweet!! A board talking about LA SELE!! We got a shot against Poland and Ecuador. Making it to the second round will be tough, but not impossible. Let's go CR!!
People are way underestimating the Ticos. A couple of points here. First, coaching. There has been a bit of a carousel over the last several years with CRC - of course, Alexandre Guimaraes was the coach for the 2002 WC, followed by Steve Sampson (what were they thinking? - Did they see the US team in France 1998?), then Pinto, and finally back to Alexandre Guimaraes. Since Guimaraes has returned, this has been a completely different team. During the second half of the final phase of CONCACAF qualifying, CRC was every bit as good as Mexico and the U.S. Also, had it not been for an absolutely incredible game by Kasey Keller in the nets for the US during qualifying, the Ticos may have swept the Yanks and we might be talking about the #2 from CONCACAF. They ain't some newbies who've never been here before. They can win away from home - just ask Mexico. They are quick and athletic and I think they match up quite well with the European defensive style, as long as Alex doesn't get conservative, which is my only criticism of his coaching.
Thanks Morado, but of course you're gonna like the post! J/K - good luck to your Saprissa boys tonight - show 'em what CONCACAF is all about...
oh come on. you really think costa rica has a chance of advancing from this group? i know anything can happen but come on i predict 1 pt at most. mark my words. poland is waaaaaay outta crc's league, most of you think otherwise beacause youve never seen a recent polish nt match. keep dreaming. reality will wake you on 20th june in hanover
And you say this becuz....?? Have you seen CR play in this last 6 months? How familiar are you w/ Concacaf? If you assume that there's a tremendous gap btw US/Mex and CR, you're mistaken. I know that neither Mexico nor the US take them lightly. I would have no problem putting CR in a match against any Conmebol team outside of Brazil/Argentina, 2 teams in a class of their own. Put all the smileys you want, it still doesn't change the fact that CR had a much better WC than Poland in '02. CR came close to advancing, unlike Poland.
Well, I've seen CR play, and I think that they're the weakest team in the group by far. But then again they may prove me wrong come the WC.
I most familiar w/ CR and Ecuador. CR has better athletes and better coaches/training than Ecuador. The top teams of their domestic league are quite competitive, despite being under-ranked even w/in Concacaf. The advantage that Ecuador has over CR is that it is 3x the population (roughly), so it has more athletes from which to choose. The difference btw Concacaf and Conmebol is that C'bol has Arg/Brazil. Take out Arg/Brazil, and there's no country that would consistently be top 3 of the Americas, whereas Mexico and the US would virtually be guaranteed top 3 at any given time, and CR would be top 5 at any given time (as long as they're not coached by Steve Sampson, the guy that humiliated the US in '98). But b/c C'bol has Brazil/Arg, and b/c up until a decade ago they were flat-out stronger than C'caf, ppl assume that a non-Mexico C'caf team is a joke. The football world has changed b/c of global economics. It's time to get out of the "Brazil/Arg/Italy and Germany are the only ones who can win in football" mentality. Part of that is accepting Concacaf's place. I will say this: Mexico, if they get their mental shizit together, could honestly make a run at the Cup. It's not for lack of talent; it's for lack of self-belief.
I have not revisited this thread since my original vote ages ago. Now that the draw has been conducted, I would suspect that the Ticos are pleased with the draw. I think it is quite possible to advance to the round of 16--where Sweden or England will then eliminate Costa Rica. Too many people are already expecting Poland to take 2nd in the group. It shall be interesting to see how Ecuador, Poland and Costa Rica match up against each other, but I would not be surprised at all if CRC is one of two (hopefully three) Concacrap teams making it to the round of 16.
Legionista said: Well, firstly, I'm not dreaming of CRC victories - I'm a Yank through and through sorry if I did not make that clear. But only 1 point for the Ticos? Dude, you need a reality check. I do not underestimate Poland, in fact they should have dealt us Yanks a cruel blow in 2002 had it not been for Portugal's mental implosion. I believe we played a friendly in 2005 (2004?) and it was a 1-1 draw, can't remember what kind of sides each team fielded. This may get some people going, but I actually rate them higher than the Germans at this point. I am just making a general point that an athletic, skilled side like CRC will give teams like Poland and Germany, which have a tendency to get conservative and defensive, lots of trouble and I think between the two games CRC will get at least two points, they'll need a victory over Ecuador to advance and this is where they might falter IMHO. We'll see how well Saprissa does against Liverpool in the FIFA Club Championship - much of that team is on the CRCNT - maybe if Saprissa does well you'll see that yes although this is CONCACAF (can't quite bring myself to call it CONCACRAP like Eldiablito although it is probably an appropriate moniker) the best of the region is quite good and can beat anybody anywhere in the world. Not everytime, but it is no longer a 'mail it in' effort required by the rest of the world to beat the best of CONCACAF.
Personally, I like Costa Rica. You guys play exciting, offensive soccer and with a lot of heart (as documented when they went all out with Brazil in the last WC). However, I don't think they can outplay Poland or Germany for the top two seeds. Tactics and experience should make the difference. I'm sure Poland will not underestimate them and with massive fan support from Polish fans who will be in Germany this should be enough to get us through to the final 16. Then again it is the WC, you never know what will happen. Maybe Deutschland will crack under pressure and... 1.Poland 2.Costa Rica 3.Germany 4.Ecuador
It seems that both sides, Poland and Costa Rica (or at least some fans of both sides) are somewhat underestimating each other's teams. And lets not forget that this will be the final group game for both teams, maybe a must-win for one or the other. I've already said that Costa Rica has the potential to tie Germany in the opener.
In all due respect, it's more the Polish/Euro/UEFA fans who are underestimating CR. Nobody from Concacaf would say, "Poland??!!! Poland?? Are you serious?? C'mon! A Costa Rican 4th division team could beat Poland!!" Unfortunately, that's the type of crap that ppl have been typing about CR (and USA, and Togo, and Ecuador, etc.; any non-Arg/Brazil/UEFA team). The bottom line is that all 4 of these squads are capable of qualifying for the Round of 16. It's the Euros and Europhiles that are the ones claiming CR and Ecuador haven't a snow-ball's chance in hell.
It's simple. Most Europeans and Europhiles (myself included) feel that it is much easier to qualify from CONCACAF than UEFA (FIFA rankings notwithstanding), and this perception will not change until the overall level of competition in CONCACAF increases, or the rules of the competition are changed so that more deserving European sides enter the tournament - for instance though a global and not a regional qualification. And don't tell me that it's more difficult to play away in Central America than in Europe - an argument often made by US fans that often includes vivid descriptions of batteries and urine bags thrown at the visiting players. Try playing in any southern UEFA country: Georgia, Azerbaijan (our Polish players had to escape the field as an angry mob nearly lynched them for twice humiliating their team this year), Malta, even Greece of Turkey, and you know what an antagonistic crowd really feels like. But no matter what, and no matter how much rhethoric is thrown around, the games will verify who was right. Let's just hope that the answers are clear, and that neither side can get away with blaming the ref or claiming corruption or a fix.
i think thats a valid statement and I agree with it, not because I'm polish, but because it's right. I mean, take a team like Trinidad & Tobago. Any one of Denmark, Norway, Turkey, Greece and more would beat them easily, yet they are at the world cup, and those european teams are not.
Europpeans always underestimate CR, ask Sweden, Scotland and Turkey..... chekoslovakia did kick our a$$, so dont ask them. We have won over teams like Germany(twice), Portugal and Netherlands in YouthWorldCups i.e. Argentina´s U20 WC, we we won 3-1 over Holland, 6 of those players play for the CRNT now....