Brasil2014
Match Report 

Italy v Costa Rica


Recife, 20th June 2014


ruiz scores
Ruiz scores the decisive goal

Match Report


Report “Costa Rica are dead in the water”. “The likes of Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz will hardly strike the fear of God into the opposition”. My own words came back spectacularly to haunt me as Ruiz, bundled out of Fulham even before they were relegated last season, headed the winner and Joel Campbell, perennial loanee from Arsenal, put in another effervescent performance to ensure that England’s faint hopes of qualifying were ended.

Just as they did against Uruguay, Costa Rica pressed Italy to such a degree that even Pirlo, restored to his position just in front of the defence, could only find rare moments of quality. One of those came in the first half when he released Balotelli but it went to waste, just like most of the possession enjoyed by the AC Milan hitman slash nutter. He cut an increasingly frustrated figure before finally Prandelli put him out of his misery by hauling him off in a strop.

This was in stark contrast to Campbell at the other end, who should have earned Los Ticos the lead just before Ruiz’ goal. A jinking, diagonal run took Campbell into the penalty area before Chiellini crudely bundled him over. A characteristic of this World Cup has been some poor refereeing decisions, and the Chilean referee contributed to this when he waved play on. Pinto, the Costa Rican manager, looked like he was about to explode.

And minutes later, he did. Ruiz’ header cascaded against the bar and over the line and pandemonium ensued. With the bit between their teeth, Costa Rica pressed and pressed, allowing Italy barely a chance on goal, let alone to settle on the ball.

A feature of Spain and England, two early exitees from the World Cup, has been hurried and inaccurate passing, leading to slow build-ups and predictable attacks. In this game, Italy suffered from the same. They looked like a team who thought they were too good to be pressed into mistakes; that quality would prevail.

But this is the first World Cup of a new era, of a new type of football with high energy teams hunting in packs. Just as Atletico did in the Champions League, the underdogs have found a way to beat the big teams, and Costa Rica are the alpha male of the underdog pack in this World Cup. And just like Atletico, it is quite possible that one of these underdogs- Costa Rica or Chile- could go all the way to the final.


Batts


Teams 

Italy


01 Buffon

07 Abate

04 Darmian

16 De Rossi

15 Barzagli

03 Chiellini

06 Candreva (Insigne, 57')

05 Motta (Cassano, 45')

09 Balotelli - Booked

21 Pirlo

08 Marchisio (Cerci, 69')


Substitutes


02 De Sciglio

10 Cassano

11 Cerci

12 Sirigu

13 Perin

14 Aquilani

17 Immobile

18 Parolo

19 Bonucci

20 Paletta

22 Insigne

23 Verratti



Costa Rica


01 Navas

16 Gamboa

15 Díaz Campbell

04 Umaña

03 Gonzalez

06 Duarte

10 Ruiz (Brenes, 81')

05 Borges

09 Campbell (Ureña, 74')

17 Tejeda Valverde (Cubero, 68' - Booked)

07 Bolaños


Substitutes


02 Acosta

08 Myrie

11 Barrantes

12 Francis

13 Granados Maroto

14 Brenes

18 Pemberton

19 Miller

20 Calvo

21 Ureña

22 Cubero

23 Cambronero




Italy

0


Costa Rica

1

  • Ruiz 44′



Ref: Enrique Osses

Att: 40,285


Possession


  • Italy 61%
  • Costa Rica 39%

Shots


  • Italy 10
  • Costa Rica 11

On Target


  • Italy 4
  • Costa Rica 5

Corners


  • Italy 4
  • Costa Rica 5

Fouls


  • Italy 10
  • Costa Rica 23