Over the last few days, the National Men’s Football Team of Costa Rica, more commonly known as La Sele, has asserted Costa Rica’s rightful rank as one of the top nations playing the world’s most popular sport. The hasty and complicated departure of coach Jorge Luis Pinto, labeled as FIFA as the leader who made Costa Rica fly at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, left doubts in the minds of many fans who worried that the extremely solid defense and incredibly disciplined midfield of the team would fizzle under the tutelage of interim coach Paulo Cesar Wanchope.

 

It turns out that yes, the catenaccio-like (deadbolt) back line that stopped talented, world-class strikers from various national teams in Brazil, is gone. In the World Cup, scoring against Costa Rica proved to be a very difficult task; these days, not so much. All the same, the recent friendly matches in Asia have been a lot more fun to watch. It seems as if Mr. Wanchope is letting players enjoy themselves out on the pitch; gone is the efficient offside trap that left several dangerous strikers in the World Cup wondering why they were given so much space given their reputations, what La Sele is employing against opposing teams now is a certain brilliance that endangers goalkeepers but makes fans smile. The Tico-Taka style that Mr. Pinto so skillfully developed through hard work and constant disciplined drills is giving way to a pretty display of touch, acrobatics, unexpected passes, and a bit of flamboyancy.

 

Boxing may be the Sweet Science and horse racing the Sport of Kings, but football (or soccer, if you rightfully insist) is the Beautiful Game, the jogo bonito that we historically owe to a string of incredible players from O Rei Pele to George Best and from Alfredo Di Stefano to Johan Cruyff to Maradona to Ronaldinho to Donovan to Michel Platini and the entire National Men’s Football Team of Brazil at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.

 

Jogo bonito has been painfully missing from international football since at least the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. It helps to note that the 2006 hosts are the current World Champions, and that the most recent tournament took place in the spiritual home of football, or at least the home of jogo bonito as we knew it years ago. The painful Brazil v. Germany match in the World Cup was lamented by many as just one of the many ugly displays of anti-jogo bonito that have plagued football for many decades. Other examples include just about every match that La Sele played earlier this year in Brazil. Fans old enough to remember Costa Rica at the 1990 World Cup in Italy will remember the flashy style of La Sele back then, which did not carry the team past the knockout stage, but it was certainly pretty to watch.

 

What La Sele has recently shown against the national teams of Oman and South Korea is more reminiscent of Costa Rica at the 1990 World Cup, but the Tico players are not alone. Those Korean and Omani players who slipped by La Sele’s leaky defense and scored against Costa Rica did so on pure skill that was joyful to watch. And Brazilian wonder Neymar, who is getting very close to emulating his childhood idols Pele and Ronaldo, recently scored four goals against the disciplined national team of Japan.

 

Neymar scoring all goals for his country’s team may not be in the plans of current coach Dunga, who is not particularly fond of jogo bonito. Meanwhile, in Mexico’s Liga MX; Ronaldinho is filling up every seat of his new club Gallos Blancos’ stadium in Queretaro, which has lost the last three games but is somehow managing to sell every ticket thanks to his perpetual smile and vibrancy on the pitch. On Mexican sports radio, ecstatic fans are calling to thank Ronaldinho even after lost matches. At this time, jogo bonito seems to be making a comeback, and football fans are loving it.