Costa Rica crushed by Spain in World Cup debut

Central America’s sole representative in the World Cup, Costa Rica kicked off its participation in football’s biggest stage in the worst possible fashion. Los Ticos took a 7-0 pounding by Spain — the widest margin of victory in the tournament so far.

It was also Spain’s biggest World Cup victory — and matched Costa Rica’s worst result in any competition (the last time Costa Rica suffered a defeat by a seven-goal margin happened in a 1975 friendly, though).

Costa Rica was one of the sensations of the 2014 World Cup finishing first in a group that included former champions Italy, Uruguay, and England, and reaching the quarter-final. The plucky underdogs were eventually beaten by the Netherlands in a penalty shootout.

Many of the players who took the field today against Spain were in that squad, but couldn’t repeat the magic from eight years ago. Experienced goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who plays for Paris Saint Germain, was a non-factor, as was forward Joel Campbell — who was a standard performer in 2014.

Fans from Costa Rica didn’t have high hopes for their team, which had just eked out qualification to the tournament in Qatar, narrowly beating New Zealand in a playoff. 

While the Central American team was one of the oldest in the cup, Spain bet on young talent. The age average for the two lineups was 26.8 for Spain and 29.2 for Costa Rica, and the difference couldn’t be clearer during today’s game. The scoreline was already 3-0 with barely a half an hour of football played.

Costa Rica returns to the pitch on Sunday, November 27, when they will face Japan, buoyant after their surprise 2-1 win over Germany earlier today. 

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