Assassins in North and Central America - Costa Rica
One,
the national team
Structure and current status
As a small country in North and Central America, Costa Rica has a long history of participation in the 90s, 02s, 06s and 14s.
World Cup
And in the last
World Cup
Costa Rica made it to the last eight of the tournament, where it faced Uruguay, Italy, and England in what was supposed to be the Group of Death, but Costa Rica beat Uruguay 3-1 in the opening match, followed by a 1-0 win over Italy to seal the deal.
advancement
After a 0-0 draw with England, Costa Rica finished first in the group.
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And undefeated.
And the nonsense continues. Costa Rica faced Greece and the Netherlands in the round of 16 and 8, respectively, and drew 1-1 and 0-0, respectively, before two consecutive matches turned into PK matches, where they finally lost to the Netherlands.
Just by looking at this statistic, you can see how good Costa Rica's defense is, playing five teams and only conceding two points, and facing almost all the strongest countries, except for Uruguay, the other four teams are the traditional powerhouses in Europe, the Americas are more passionate and passionate about soccer, love attacking soccer, and the defense is often porous, which is usually the case in the
World Cup
When you meet a European team that is good at controlling the tempo of their counterattacks, you're likely to lose, unless it's a scoreless game, but Costa Rica is the complete opposite, they play a traditional defensive counterattack.
This year's Costa Rica
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The road remains the same, second in North and Central America
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, 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses, with 14 goals scored and 8 goals conceded, although this year's
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The good thing is that they won both home and away against the United States, scoring six very important points, and the United States only allowed Honduras and Panama to score a tie-breaking point each, which allowed Costa Rica to win, but Costa Rica still has the fewest points among the six teams in North and Central America, and is the only team to concede single-digit goals, with most of the same starters as in the previous edition. Most of the team's starters are the same as last year's team, and they will continue to play a defensive style of soccer this year.
II. Analysis of team formations
Costa Rica plays a five-four-one defensive formation, with five players in the back of the net, blocking the opponent's attack and passing the ball directly to Joel Campbell in front of the net to make a breakthrough, and then distributing the ball to either Urena or Bryan Ruiz on the left side of the net to score directly on the goal.
Costa Rica's player power level isn't that high, and it's basically all about Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz on the attacking line, the two most offensive players on the team, mainly running on counterattacks with a shot on goal.
The defense is kind of a priority for Costa Rica, with Gonzalez, Acosta, and Duarte all having played in the last
World Cup
Acosta is getting old and will play Calvo and Oviedo as fullbacks. Calvo was in the team four years ago, but didn't have a chance to play at that time, but now he's 25 years old and has enough age and experience to form a central trio of centerbacks with Gonzalez and Duarte, and on the right side, Gamboa, who is now playing for Celtic and was the main right back in the last edition, will be young Matarrita. On the right side will be Gamboa, currently playing for Celtic, who was also the starting right back last term, and on the left side will be the young Matarrita.
In the midfield, Borges and Guzman should be the main players, and they are the two midfielders that Costa Rica relies on the most as backs, especially Borges, who has been the most important player in the game for the past few years.
the national team
He has scored 21 goals in 111 matches, second only to captain Bryan Ruiz's 24 goals in 110 matches. Of course, the most efficient scorers at the moment are J. Campbell and Urena, but Borges, as the core of the midfield, is one of the most important players for Costa Rica, in terms of his involvement in both defense and offense.
III. Key players
Bryan Ruiz (Ruiz)
Costa Rica's captain, now playing for Portugal's Sporting Lisbon, his type is a forward 10 attacking midfielder instead of the traditional organization type brain, he is actually closer to the state of the half striker, most of the time is to hold the ball and immediately make a shot on goal or forward to the penalty area line on the shot, in the header of the reception of crosses is also often seen, the focus is on the motivation is very high, in the front of the field is very active, although it is not a super killer, but most of his shots are on target to the goal is a threat to the most reliable scoring point of Costa Rica. Although he is not considered a super killer, most of his shots are on target and are a threat to the goal, making him the most reliable scorer in the Costa Rica team.
Joel Campbell (Campbell)
Arsenal (name)
Fans may be more familiar with him, still currently affiliated with the
Arsenal (name)
Joel Campbell, a high-speed rusher, has excellent explosive power and dribbling footwork, featuring the ability to control the ball and dribble at high speeds, and his shooting skills in front of the goal aren't bad either.
However, a player like Campbell is a typical player who needs distance to sprint, and many of his goals and assists are from near the center line, which is a big problem for the current
Arsenal (name)
For that matter, it's not a good fit, which is why he's been loaned out.
