Sadly, as you might already know, Costa Rica is out of the World Cup and that also means the end of all the fun and craziness that has been going on here (connected with the World Cup, I mean. There is other kind of fun and craziness around, no worries :)).
I have to admit that I was hoping for Costa Rica to keep winning so I could enjoy this great atmosphere for little bit longer! Also, I can totally relate to what Ticos were feeling during this World Cup. Coming from very small country which many people are not able to locate (Czechoslovakia? Slovenia? Yugoslavia? :)), I know how it feels when the rest of the world suddenly recognizes the small unknown countries and when these countries beat the big well-known countries (how dare they?! :)). I am sure some of you will remember the Ice-Hockey World Championship in 2002 when Slovakia won the gold medal. Slovaks had never been so proud to be Slovaks as in that moment! The same was for Ticos - you could see it in their eyes how proud they were of their country and especially of their players. No one expected that they would get so far and they themselves I think had the lowest expectations. So it was fun to watch how their confidence grew with each match but at the same time they remained humble and grateful. Even after today match they were still celebrating! Apparently, Costa Rica is the only Central American or Caribbean squad ever to advance to the Quarter Finals of FIFA World Cup. They also did quite well in the 1990 FIFA World Cup when they finished second in their group during the first phase, below Brazil. And they also qualified for the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. But this year World Cup was definitely the most successful one so far!
Here are some of my highlights while cheering for Costa Rica (besides the match with England where I remained neutral :))
14th June - Costa Rica vs Uruguay (3:1) - watching with my colleagues at Oteros
Celebrating after the match outside
20th June - Costa Rica vs Italy - 1:0 - watching with kids and teenage moms and my colleagues at our centre in Los Guido
24th June - Costa Rica vs England - 0:0 - Sorry, no pictures from this day - I was too nervous and didn't take any!
29th June - Costa Rica vs Greece - 1:1 (5:3) - watching with my colleagues and our outreach team at SI office
5th July - Costa Rica vs Netherlands - 0:0 (3:4) - watching with my colleagues at Oteros
Check out my Costa Rican T-shirt! It was made by one of our women.
