Uruguay 1, Costa Rica 3: Surprise! Los Ticos wear out Uruguay and go in for the kill

Group D just got very interesting.

Costa Rica upset Uruguay 3-1 thanks to the pace and touch of Joel Campbell combined with the ability of Bryan Ruiz and Celso Borges to create space in midfield, and find their roving forward up front. 

Not impressing was a listless Uruguayan back four which simply couldn’t keep up with the Los Ticos attack, once a worn down La Celeste midfield finally let the floodgates open.

On the other side of the pitch, it became obvious that Diego Forlan is not Luis Suarez. The veteran Uruguayan forward missed a crucial opportunity early, and had his best scoring chance come about after a deflection from a defender.

The Goals

PENALTY GOAL! Edinson Cavani (URU), 24 min. Total pro. Cavani puts the penalty away into the bottom right hand corner of the net like an especially competent librarian stacking returns. The penalty was awarded after Diego Lugano was hauled down in the box by Junior Diaz on a free-kick.

GOAL! Joel Campbell (CRI), 54 min. A lovely cross from deep down the right flank gets bumped on by Borges beside the near post. The ball finds Campbell with plenty of space in the box. He takes his time controlling the ball before blasting it into the back of the net.

GOAL! Oscar Duarte (CRI), 57 min. Duarte dives to meet a free-kick from Christian Bolanos at the back post where he angles it across the goal and in.

GOAL! Marco Urena (CRI), 84 min. Campbell with a beautiful through ball to Urena, who gives it a fantastic single touch to beat Fernando Muslera who charged the through ball at a bad angle.

RED CARD! Maxi Pereira (URU), 90 min.

Man of the Match - Joel Campbell

In addition to scoring the equalizer, Campbell was incredibly effective on the counter, using pace that simply couldn’t be matched by Uruguay’s back line. When he wasn’t on the ball, he proved a very effective decoy with the mere threat of his speed. His touch, and ability to hold up the attack, was also on display with the third goal, when he sent Urena through the Uruguay defense with a perfect through ball.

The Controversy

Oscar Tabarez was in a no-win situation with the health of Luis Suarez. Start the Liverpool forward, and he’d be criticized for using him unnecessarily against the minnows from Costa Rica. Leave him on the bench, and he’d be criticized for not taking Costa Rica seriously enough.

He opted to leave him on the bench, which is odd, because if there’s ever a time to bring Suarez on, it’s when your squad is down a goal late in the match. And yet, there he sat. If you’re not going to put Suarez on at that point, what was the point of even dressing him?

It’s also worth mentioning that Duarte was probably offside on the second goal, but not so much that it’s worth a whole lot of complaints.

What did the winning team do to win?

Costa Rica plays a very exciting brand of football. And so does Uruguay. Put them together, and not so much.

Uruguay was able to stifle Costa Rica’s attack in the first half by essentially clogging up the middle of the pitch with their four midfielders stretched straight across. As the match wore on, the Uruguayan midfielders began to lose a step and a bit of smarts (tired legs = tired minds), especially Christian Rodriguez and Walter Gargano on the left side, allowing Ruiz and Borges more room to operate and more time to find open players.

The work of the midfield in the first half did a good job of hiding the weaknesses of the back four, who were revealed to be atrocious when the midfield grew tired.

In Campbell’s roaming role up front, he was able to move to the right side when they needed someone to pass to on the ground, or to the left side to grant them more freedom to cross the ball. Uruguay couldn’t handle his speed on the fast counters, and Ruiz showed his gratefulness for the opportunity by feeding Campbell with multiple passes.

The Takeaway

With matches against England and Italy remaining, Uruguay are already in tough to advance to the knockout stage. Meanwhile, if England and Italy can beat themselves up in a draw later Saturday evening, it will mean Costa Rica sits atop Group D after the first Matchday, something no one would’ve thought possible when the teams were drawn together in early December.

Stray Thoughts

How about that CONCACAF! Not only does Costa Rica upset Uruguay, the officials in the earlier match — representing the same confederation — were perfectly unnoticeable in their work.

Just trust me that, in context, what you see below makes perfect sense. Sort of.