FIFA World Cup 2018: Costa Rica

In the 2014 World Cup in Brazil Costa Rica were one of the surprise packages, playing attacking and exciting football they reached the knockout stages before finally being knocked out with their heads held high. Fast forward four years to this years tournament in Russia and it is entirely possible that expectations are raised, however given the form of some of the key players in the squad this season those expectations may need to be held in check.

There is still plenty of talent in the squad with Keylor Navas or Real Madrid and Bryan Ruiz of Sporting Lisbon still the stand out players but the likes of Joel Campbell, who was arguably the breakout star four years ago, has not kicked on over the last four years and whilst still on the books at Arsenal his series of loan spells in various nations has possibly seen him regress.

With a difficult group containing Brazil, Switzerland and Serbia this Costa Rica side would do well to reach even the last 16 of the tournament.

Squad

Coach  Oscar Ramirez

A former national team stalwart whose spell as coach has so far had mixed reviews. Impressive in the domestic scene as he took Alajuelense to the league title five times before coming in to replace the former national team star Paulo Wanchope as coach.

He was able to navigate a difficult qualification despite a poor start but there are still concerns with the side stuttering after qualification was secured.

Ramirez prefers a 5-4-1 system with the two wide midfielders pushing on to support the lone striker in possession. It remains to be seen whether this is effective this summer in Russia.

Goalkeepers

Keylor Navas, Patrick Pemberton, Leonel Moreira

Defenders

Cristian Gamboa, Ian Smith, Ronald Mattarita, Bryan Oviedo, Oscar Duarte, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Francisco Calvo, Kendall Watson, Johnny Castro

Midfielders

David Guzman, Yeltsin Tejeda, Celso Borges, Randall Azofeifa, Rodney Wallace, Bryan Ruiz, Daniel Colindres, Christiano Bolanos

Forwards 

Johan Venegas, Joel Campbell, Marco Urena

Tactics

With three central defenders we will see Costa Rica look to play out from the back as they start their attacking phase. With most opponents only committing one or maybe two players to press the back line we should see Costa Rica manage to play through using their free player.

Here the initial pass is in front of the press out to the wide centre back which draws the pressing players across. This, in turn, frees the central player to receive the pass in space and look to turn and play forwards.