Costa Rica stun Uruguay in Group of Death opener
On paper, Uruguay should have walked over Costa Rica; with the likes of Luis Suarez – one of the most prolific scorers in the last 2 years, along with Edinson Cavani and Diego Forlán in the team, Costa Rica should have caused very little problems, but as the match finished, Costa Rica gave England and Italy something to cheer about even before their match began, as they routed Uruguay 3-1!
Starting XI for Costa Rica (5-4-1): Navas; Gamboa, Umana, Gonzalez, Duarte, Diaz; Bolanos, Borges, Tejeda; Campbell, Ruiz.
Starting XI for Uruguay (4-4-2): Muslera; Pereira, Lugano, Godin, Caceres; Rios, Gargano, Stuani, Rodriguez; Forlan, Cavani
Before the match, Group D was seen as the group of death, with the likes of Italy, England and Uruguay fighting it out to advance to the next round, as everyone believed Costa Rica would be left in the shadows, trying to catch up to the top 3 with little to no success. It made complete sense, as they were in a group with three teams that have already won the World Cup. As the evening progressed however, the minnows shocked the world.
Uruguay started without Suarez, benched after suffering a knee injury. Atletico’s Diego Godin found himself in the starting XI for Uruguay, but it was a perfect chance for Cavani to prove himself to the world once again after he played as the wingman to Zlatan Ibrahimovic during the recently concluded season of Ligue 1. Last World Cup’s “Player of the tournament” Diego Forlan also had a thing or two to prove to the world. But as it turned out, neither of them could fill the void left by an injured Suarez, as he watched his side losing its way haplessly.
In the 15th minute, Uruguay nearly took the lead, but the goal was disallowed as Godin was offside. Uruguay would get one more chance however, as in the 22nd minute, a foul by Junior Diaz in the box allowed Edinson Cavani to take the penalty, and he gladly obliged by putting the ball in the back of the net to give Uruguay the lead.
Uruguay went into half-time leading Costa Rica 1-0, which was a great sign as Uruguay were undefeated in the World Cup while leading at half time. But all that changed in the second half with a spark of brilliance by Joel Campbell, who put the ball in the back of the Uruguayan net. Things just got worse for Uruguay from there, as just a couple of minutes later, Oscar Duarte headed in for his first ever goal!
Cavani had a chance to equalize for Uruguay, but the PSG man found no one from his team to take advantage of his cross. Costa Rica kept pressing and Campbell was close to adding another goal to his tally, but his long distance shot went just wide of the goal. in the 84th minute however, the men in white put the final nail in Uruguay’s coffin as Urena guided the ball into the net after a sublime pass by Campbell, and that was all she wrote for the former champions – a team that had won the World Cup in 1950 when the tournament was hosted by Brazil.
In the final seconds of the match, Uruguay’s Pereira picked up the first red card of the tournament, capping off a disappointing opening match for Uruguay, as Costa Rica ended the night topping the group while Uruguay lingers at the bottom!
Just to give you an idea about how Costa Rica outplayed the Uruguayans, here are the stats for the match.
| Stats | Uruguay | Costa Rica |
|---|---|---|
| Shots (on goal) | 9 (5) | 13 (5) |
| Fouls | 20 | 18 |
| Corner Kicks | 5 | 6 |
| Offsides | 6 | 2 |
| Possession | 56% | 44% |
| Yellow Cards | 3 | 0 |
| Red Cards | 1 | 0 |
| Saves | 1 | 2 |
Stats source: www.nytimes.com
