All eyes across the world today have shifted towards Group D in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
A group that consists of 2010 semi-finalists and #7 FIFA-ranked Uruguay, 2006 champions and 9th-ranked Italy, the 10th- ranked Three Lions of England, and #28 CONCACAF runners-up Costa Rica, surely should be considered a second Group of Death.
Uruguay and Costa Rica kicked things off for Group D at the Estadio Castelao in Fortaleza on Saturday.
The match in the first half was mostly back-and-forth, with both teams having several decent or half-decent chances. It was turned on its head in the 24th minute when arguably the first legitimate penalty of the tournament was given as Junior Diaz used an NFL-worthy wrap-up tackle around the waist of Diego Lugano. Edinson Cavani cooly slotted it past Keylor Navas to put Uruguay ahead 1-0.
Costa Rica had several chances to even the odds before the half, the best coming courtesy of the Columbus Crew’s Giancarlo (Pipo) Gonzalez, who hit a chance off of a free kick into the side netting. Regardless of the pressure created by Costa Rica, the teams went in at the half with Uruguay up 1-0.
The second half started with Costa Rica looking like a team on a mission. After creating the only chances of the half, Costa Rica would level thing up at 1 when a ball whipped in from the right hand side landed perfectly for Arsenal’s Joel Campbell (on loan last season at Olympiacos in Greece) to blast home past Muslera.
The pressure would not relent for Uruguay, however, and in the 57th minute a dangerous free-kick from the edge of the box was whipped low towards the back post by Christian Bolanos that was latched onto by Oscar Duarte to give the CONCACAF team a surprise 2-1 lead.
Uruguay will have some complaints after the game as it appeared that Duarte was offsides when the ball was played in.
Uruguay looked to get back into the game and when they went down 2-1 the injured Suarez bounced up off the bench and began warming up. He wouldn’t make his way into the game, and unfortunately for Uruguay neither would they.
After several half chances by both teams, Costa Rica put the nail in the coffin and sealed the 3 points when Marcos Urena received a ball on the right hand side of the box and first timed it past Muslera low towards the back left post to put Costa Rica up 3-1.
Costa Rica set up defensively the rest of the match and killed the game off, with the only talking point being SL Benfica player Maxi Pereria’s lack of discipline as he kicked out at a Costa Rican player and was shown a straight red to extend the misery for Uruguay.
In perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament so far, Costa Rica earned all 3 points to start Group D off in a fashion that surely would have never been expected.
