Joel Campbell, 29, had just become the great hero of the comparatively small nation of Costa Rica when he burst into tears in the presence of Teletica’s specially dispatched TV reporter. “We all scored that goal,” sobbed the striker of Mexican first division club León, pressing the heels of his hands into his eye sockets.
Already in the third minute he had pushed the ball over the line in the World Cup playoff against New Zealand with his left hand and in the end not only ensured Costa Rica’s sixth World Cup participation – but also the Central Americans’ 32nd and thus last solved open World Cup ticket. The Costa Ricans complete the field of participants in Group D and play in Qatar against Spain, Japan and on the last day of the group (December 1) against Germany. “I had said: Either we all die in the end, or we smile,” said Campbell, the latter happened. “Pura Vida is in Qatar!” exclaimed former Arsenal FC forward Campbell when he had regained his composure.
“Pura Vida”, in English: “pure life”, is something of a synonym for the five-million-inhabitant country of Costa Rica, because it is a ubiquitous greeting, or sometimes just a crutch to convey messages. “Pura Vida en Qatar 2022” was also written on the red T-shirts, which all covered “Ticos”, when the 90 minutes at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Ar-Rayyan were over and all the debates of the past few months were forgotten. “We were under a lot of pressure,” wheezed the most famous player of the future DFB opponent, goalkeeper Keylor Navas from the French noble club Paris Saint-Germain. “Pura vida, greetings to all,” he added.
The possible equalization of the New Zealanders is rightly denied
Qualifying was indeed quite an ordeal, and not so much because of the long journey to the World Cup host country accompanied by a surprising number of “Ticos”. Next week marks the first anniversary of the inauguration of Costa Rica’s Colombian coach Luis Fernando Suárez, 62, and when he landed in San Jose he took charge of a side that had basically stopped dreaming.
Suárez, who is now looking forward to his third World Cup as a coach after qualifying with Ecuador (2006) and Honduras (2014), disturbed a number of Costa Ricans because he missed many US legionnaires – and at the beginning of his tenure with a lot experimented with young players, he called a total of 43 players. Among them was Jewison Bennette, who set up former Arsenal striker Campbell’s early goal on the eve of his 18th birthday. At halftime Bennette had to give way. After the early lead, Costa Rica were solid in the 4-4-2 formation. But the ball belonged to New Zealand and that forced Suárez to react. He brought in Carlos Martínez, 23, for the right flank, the giant central defender Kendall Waston, 34, and above all playmaker Bryan Ruiz, 36. Costa Rica’s number 10 wants to end his career after the World Cup – but against New Zealand he showed that he can game can still add pause and structure.
Just before half-time, you could see how urgent these changes were. The possible compensation by the New Zealanders was – rightly – denied after examining the video images. After half-time, New Zealand were mostly harmless for a long time, save for an attack by Kosta Barbarouses on the ankle of Francisco Calvo, 29, which was indeed sent off. Goalkeeper Navas was there when the New Zealanders awkwardly pushed for an equalizer towards the end of the game.
“Personally, this is the best group I’ve ever coached,” said coach Suárez
Calm in tone but clear in his message, coach Suárez also reflected on the days when the Ticos would have liked to chase him back home. “We took a lot of beatings,” he recalled. Left-back Rónald Matarrita said at the time “roughly that he hopes that those who kill us today will not cheer for us tomorrow and claim victory for themselves,” said Suárez. On the other hand, he didn’t want to waste a lot of words about the group and the opponent Germany and the other group opponents. “I almost forgot about the group,” joked Suárez, who was Germany’s group opponent with Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup (0:3) as was Costa Rica in the opening game in Munich (2:4).
“Personally, this is the best group I’ve ever coached,” Suárez said of his current squad. In terms of football, there is still a lot of room for improvement. “We would like to be the protagonists in the group we were drawn into. But we have to get better to do that. Much better,” said the Colombian and nevertheless made a promise: “You won’t be this team, you’ll be a completely different team see.”