🇨🇷 What's the vibe in Costa Rica? Jubilation & resignation ahead of final Concacaf WCQ match
Pura vida
When I landed in San Jose on Monday, there already were several lines of shirts being sold outside the Estadio Nacional. Today, even more shirts and their sellers joined their ranks. If the trend continues, the entire massive park that houses the stadium will be ringed with shirt sellers tomorrow before a 7:05 p.m. local kickoff between Costa Rica and the United States.
Elsewhere in San Jose, it can be more difficult to find evidence a World Cup qualification match is taking place. That’s understandable with little drama heading into the contest.
By know, you know the scenarios. A U.S. win or draw clinches automatic qualification and puts Costa Rica in the playoff. So too would a loss as long as it’s by less than six goals.
Rationally, Costa Rica fans are thrilled to have their World Cup qualification hopes still alive, needing an undefeated surge in the last six games to make it even this far. But there’s little expectation from fans Costa Rica will clinch direct qualification.
The stadium still will be full, with tickets selling out Thursday night when the drama of the window still was ahead of us and Costa Rica was yet to beat Canada and El Salvador. Fans still will root on their team. Shirts will be bought. Beers will be drank.
But few are expecting to see Costa Rica’s name on a strip of paper during Friday’s World Cup draw, at least not with a slash that says “New Zealand” next to it.
The hot topics around town undoubtedly are the match and Sunday’s presidential runoff election.
I’ve been conducting an informal poll, chatting with civil engineers, fellow journalists, baristas, and, yes, taxi drivers. Of around a dozen Costa Ricans, just one told me they’re more interested in the election Sunday than what happens with the national team this week.
Part of that may be an election in which many voters feel there’d rather not support either candidate (please note I also do not support a candidate despite having the flag of Rodrigo Chaves’ party tossed at me shortly after arrival), but it also shows just how invested this country is in its national team.
It’s also a country invested in its own image on the world stage, something the national team helps promote. Regularly listed as one of the happiest countries in the world, people start and end most conversations with a “pura vida,” the saying lifted from a Mexican film shown at Costa Rica’s first cinema.
Locals insist they are truly among the happiest people on earth, proud of their social guarantees that have been part of Costa Rican law since the 1940s that provide the right to education, to health care and to labor rights.
One thing souring Costa Rica’s mood, however, is the fact that the Ticos are unlikely to be rooting on their best team Wednesday night.
With Costa Rica likely headed to the playoff, it must manage nine players who have a yellow card and would miss the match against the OFC champion were they to take a second booking.
Joel Campbell, the team’s best attacker, Celso Borges, perhaps the top midfielder, Francisco Calvo, a consistent center back and Keysher Fuller, who has played right back much of the cycle, all are at risk and may be kept out of tomorrow’s match. So too are veteran leader Bryan Ruiz, likely starting left back Bryan Oviedo and a pair of younger attackers.
That, in addition to the mountain Costa Rica has to climb, makes victory Wednesday seem unlikely.
“I think we’ve scored 10 goals in 13 matches, so scoring six in just one game I don’t think it’s possible. Sometimes it comes off, but you ahve to have your feet on the ground,” Costa Rica manager Luis Fernando Suarez said Tuesday. “The important thing is to close well. I think that’s vital.”
That’s the exact same feeling the United States has. With the knowledge the playoff shouldn’t be needed, manager Gregg Berhalter is planning to utilize the lineup he thinks will net the U.S. its first-ever qualification win in Costa Rica.
“We said at the start of the window we had three games, and our focus was to try to win each one. This is no different,” Berhalter said. “We’re not taking anything for granted. We’re coming here to be aggressive in the game and to win the soccer game. That’s our intention. We’re not going to be cautious, we’re not going to sit back, we’re not going play for a tie. We’re playing for a win. I think that’s the mentality we need.”
Even with that mindset of win at all costs, the U.S. camp also is riding high, doing its best to match Costa Rica’s pura vida vibes.
A news conference with Tim Weah and DeAndre Yedlin today included a long section of inquiry fromt he U.S. about a new portable speaker, with DJ Weah’s diverse selections now well-amplified no matter the environment.
“Tim is kind of the energy,” Yedlin said. “Tim and when Weston’s here, so anything they’re vibing to, people are going to catch that energy and just vibe to it no matter what."
Weah hopes he’ll be mixing the perfect playlist for celebrating qualifying to the World Cup.
And the Costa Ricans? The shirt sellers still will be pushing their merchandise, though without worry about back stock. The World Cup journey will continue, keeping them on the street through at least June. Pura vida.