Costa Rica’s second win and early qualification for the last 16 was the central event of day nine at the Soccer World Cup in Brazil. In the second match of the group stage the Jorge Luis Pinto-led squad overpowered Italy by one goal to nothing. Earlier, it outplayed Uruguay 3:1.
During the first half scoring opportunities were few. Just before the half-time whistle the referee refused to award a penalty against Italy for taking down Joel Campbell. It took Costa Rica’s captain Bryan Ruiz literally seconds to right this wrong with a beautiful header.
In the second half Costa Rica preferred to counter-attack. Substitutions put some extra muscle into Italy’s attacks but to no avail. Remarkably, few had suspected Costa Rica had chances of getting out of the group into the play-off stage. Next to Uruguay, Italy and England it looked an obvious outsider. It has turned otherwise. With six points on hand Costa Rica are getting ready for the first elimination match, while England, after losing the first two games, are packing their bags. Italy and Uruguay, each with three points after two matches will clash for the remaining vacancy.
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