Costa Rica suffered the offensive power of the Colombian national team in the Copa América, which overwhelmed it from start to finish with a 3-0 thrashing at the State Farm in Glendale, Arizona, and also jeopardized its aspirations of reaching the quarterfinals.
Coach Gustavo Alfaro, who trusted his defensive scheme, explained the causes of the resounding fall. on the second date, since he did not have a good opportunity to hurt the coffee growers in the 90 minutes of the game, which ended without shots on goal for the Ticos.
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Now the Costa Rican team depends on beating the Paraguayans on the last date, by a landslide, and waiting for the Colombians to help them with Brazil, which will be the match of greatest interest on June 2 to define the two qualifiers for the quarterfinals.
The Central American team had a controlled match until the first half hour of the match, due to the foul of Patrick Sequeira, a figure against Brazil, on Jhon Córdoba, who entered the area. From there, he dropped all the work he had prepared during the week.
Alfaro explained in the press conference that “after 15 minutes of the first half I felt that we were not comfortable in the game. We did not hold the ball to dominate it and force Colombia to retreat. And in these kinds of games, mistakes are costly.”
The coach, on the other hand, made it clear that “although Colombia managed the game emotionally, it was not that they were overwhelming us, until that penalty play occurred. That’s why I told them: if they want to tie the game they have to play, I told them at half-time”.
After the second score, which was a header from Davinson Sánchez, the helmsman stated that things were more complicated: “The mistakes we made and the lack of ability to hold the ball ended up costing us a lot.”
A point that Gustavo Alfaro highlighted a lot is that his team lacked more ambition and desire to advance, unlike the coffee growers because from the first moment they went for victory, that is why he sent a harsh message to his players.
“I want them to be encouraged to play in a simple way, like Colombia did.In that sense, we are still lacking, telling them to commit to playing… but if you don’t generate passes and don’t show yourself, they won’t find you,” were the words of the Costa Rican coach.
The Ticos’ coach He concluded that, “we have done two million jobs to improve our offense and game generation,” hoping that things against Paraguay, on Tuesday, July 2, will be better and the victory will be achieved that will allow them to dream of qualifying.
In Costa Rica’s four previous Copa America appearances, only half of them have been considered outstanding campaigns, but they have not gone very far and the only redeeming feature is getting past the group stage, where they are currently hanging by a thread.
In the 2001 and 2004 editions, the Ticos went to the quarterfinals and one was as zone leader, in the tournament held in Colombia and with seven points, while three years later he advanced as one of the best third parties with just three points.
Although Costa Rica had one of the toughest groups in the 2024 Copa América, fans hope that Gustavo Alfaro’s team will put up a better fight to dream of qualifying, against the Paraguayans, who are also going through their worst moment.
