World Cup - Group D

Never mind England, so so pleased for Costa Rica. They were absolutely written off as whipping boys before the tournament began yet they've qualified with a game to spare. Could see how much it meant to them at full time as well.

Glad they knocked that mob out but even more delighted for Costa Rica themselves.

 

Yeah Costa Rica have got a great chance to go even further now, If they top the group they will play either Ivory Coast, Japan or Greece in last 16, Very winnable games to make the Q-Finals.

 

Magic the english are out after 1 week, out after 2 games, out after Costa Rica won...

Uruguay could come in 2nd with Italy 3rd.

 

So happy for Costa Rica, finally maybe some people will start believing me when I talk about how good they are. For how much many of you are reveling in England's failure because of their sense of superiority Costa Rica was not given a chance in * of even keeping things respectable by anybody outside of North America. Remember that when you talk * about some country or team you know nothing about. Uruguay is given plaudits for how they performed in 2010 but they were pushed to the brink in a qualification playoff by this same Costa Rica team. They've been good for a while.

Life isn't a FIFA 14 match. You can't just add up the ratings handed out by EA, shove them into any old formation and expect a win. France excluding Nasri for Valbuena shows how good the European teams can be if they'd understand this. Germany, unfortunately for the rest of the world, is fortunate in that their best players seem to be meshing perfectly. But they always seem to crack when they're challenged, so we'll see.

 

Loved the pictures of all the England fans in the pubs,hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Costa Rica the TEAM of the tournement so far!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Loved the pictures of all the England fans in the pubs,hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Costa Rica the TEAM of the tournement so far!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Doesn't look like Fifa were happy with Costa Rica beating Italy.
FIFA tests seven Costa Rica players.
Bryan Ruiz and Keylor Navas guaranteed that if FIFA wanted the whole Costa Rica team to undergo doping tests then they would, because they've got nothing to hide.
After the Ticos beat Italy on Friday, FIFA ordered seven of their players to undergo post-match doping tests, while only two Italian players were tested.In a statement posted by Football Italia, FIFA explained that... two Costa Rica players were ordered for normal post-match tests, while the five others had not done pre-competition testing
Navas, Ruiz, Celso Borges, Joel Campbell, Yeltsin Tejeda, Christian Bolanos were among the players who took and passed the test, while reports said Michael Barrantes was the seventh.
Following almost two hours spent between the locker room and doping control, the last three Ticos players finally appeared after taking the test.
Goalkeeper Navas said that "people still don't believe" that Costa Rica could beat Uruguay and Italy.
"We believed it from the outset, but thank * we're all relaxed, with a clear conscience," Navas said. "If they want to test the whole team, that's no problem".
Navas said that initially it may not "have sat well with them" that so many players had to attend the doping tests, as it could be seen as a "a lack of respect as well."
"You have to take it in good humour," he said. "At the end of the day, we're all relaxed and happy that we've gone through" to the knockout stage.
Team captain Ruiz also supported the words of his teammate.
"It seems a little bit excessive to me, but we can't do anything about it," he said. "We've got nothing to hide. We have trained well, without taking any banned substances. It's partly that people can't believe what we're doing, I think that's it.
"They ordered the tests, we didn't have a problem with taking them, but perhaps seven is excessive."

 

We all underestimated them here, but come on, no one seen this level of success coming. I think most people who knew about them (and I didn't know a thing beyond Joel Campbell x Man Utd btw) thought they would put in good performances and not embarrass themselves. Yet only in the wildest CONCACAF dreams were they topping the group and being one of the first teams to qualify.

But its so good that they done it.

 

Seen that Joel Campbell score a screamer for Betis either last season or the season before but I just assumed he was English when they mentioned he was on loan from Arsenal! Looks a cracking wee player

 

Oh, look. Diegan knows everything again.

 

Would be great if Costa Rica won the World Cup,well Greece had a miracle in 2004!!!!!!!

 

I know yea :smiley-laughing002:

I wonder how his Altidore for top goalscorer bet is looking?

 

An interesting evaluation of the England team by Chris Sutton;

 

He's right about terry. Cahill and terry where one of the best defences in Europe last season. I'd have brought cole as well because baines isn't good enough for this level.

 

It's true that nobody expected (including me) them to top the group and advance after the second match. But I had England going out, Italy going through (might turn out to be wrong), and Uruguay and Costa Rica fighting for 2nd. I thought they could nick it from Uruguay but I wasn't sure. Even so, that's much more respect than anybody here was giving them. But that's my point - people get upset, whiny, and crying at the "English sense of superiority" yet this board reeks of the stench. World class teams and players are regularly called "*", and any side without top-class players on FIFA or FM are denigrated and not given a chance.

Well I seem to know more than others, don't I? I think most of my non-USA predictions hold up well.

My weakness. To be fair, he plays differently with the US. Heskey is compared to him as an insult, but it's what the US needs. Before his injury against Ghana the US had 4 touches in the final third compared to Ghana's 2. After he left, for the entire rest of the match, the US still had 4 compared to Ghana's 20. So again, he serves a very clear purpose.

But again, Bryan Ruiz is a Fulham "reject" and he's been pretty good. Success/failure in the Premier League is not an indicator of how the person performs for their national team.

 

Ive always liked Bryan Ruiz, see him as a kinda poor mans Kaka but hes a good playmaker and tidy on the ball. Doesnt fit into the EPL as he's quite weak and doesnt have great pace or anything but he'd be great for Celtic or as he has been very good in the Eredivisie.

He's a good Celtic, Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, Basel, Anderlecht etc level player.

 

Dont know how to embed a Vine.... but anyhoo

https://vine.co/v/MTrtQLuuhY0/embed

 

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