It’s official: The National Men’s Football Team of Costa Rica is no longer an underdog, but still needs to match the brilliance of the defensive backline that put Tico players in the quarterfinals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. La Sele, as the team is affectionately known in Costa Rica, gave fans plenty of reasons to cheer as they matched up against their counterparts from Uruguay at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo and prevailed.

 

The first goal of the match came near the end of the first half. It was a sublime header by striker Alvaro Saborio, who plays for the Real Salt Lake of the United State Major League Soccer. Saborio caught a center pass from Bryan Ruiz who saw his teammate advancing towards the goal in between two Uruguayan defenders. Up until that point, Costa Rica had mostly played defense against the aggressive Uruguay squad that relied on the brilliance of Luis Suarez, who plays for European Champion Barcelona F.C.

 

It was Suarez who tied the game shortly after the second half began. While Los Charrúas were still celebrating, striker Joel Campbell went on the offense and found Bryan Ruiz to give Costa Rica the lead once again. Ten minutes later, La Sele was besieged by resolute attacks by Uruguay, particularly from strikers Edinson Cavani and Suarez. At the 64-minute mark, Jose Maria Gimenez tied the game 2 – 2 with a header that goalkeeper Keylor Navas did not see coming.

 

Once the match was tied at 2, Costa Rica lost the defensive edge. It was a grave mistake that allowed Cavani to score for Uruguay at the 66-minute mark. Losing by a score of 3-2, La Sele looked to Saborio and Junior Diaz to tie the match, but by then Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera had warmed up.

 

It would be Johan Venegas from Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, the current First Division leader in Costa Rica, who incredibly, and against all odds, tied the game at the 90-minute mark thanks to a masterful play by Saborio.

 

On to penalty kicks for the tiebreaker to this exciting international match: All eyes were on goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who could not stop the first kick by Suarez. Celso Borges had a rare miss as his shot hit the crossbar. Jonathan Rodriguez from Uruguay did not miss, and neither did Bryan Ruiz. Then it was Gaston Ramirez for Los Charrúas before Saborío hit the crossbar but still scored. Mathias Corujo scored for Uruguay and then Giancarlo Gonzalez for La Sele. Navas stopped Arevalo Rios’ kick before Oscar Duarte tied the penalty kick shootout at 4 each.

 

It was a tense moment at the Estadio Centenario as Alvaro Pereira scored for Uruguay and Junior Diaz for Costa Rica. Then it was Maxi Pereira and Juan Bustos Golobio. Guzman Pereira missed and Cristian Gamboa won La Sele’s final match of 2014.