By: Paul-Denys Calixte
Soccer City FC is honored to present our summer series -- Fútbol In Costa Rica. Harvard student, Paul-Denys Calixte, graciously agreed to offer up some cultural insight regarding how the game impacts the people, from the individual to the nation as a whole. In 2009, he is studying abroad at the Universidad de Costa Rica. His series will run throughout the summer. He can be reached via email at pcalixte[@]fas.harvard.edu
Here in Costa Rica, as one can imagine, confidence in the national team is soaring. They currently occupy the top spot in the CONCACAF standings, with enough distance between them and fourth-place Mexico that the text-in question on Zona Técnica two weeks ago was, "Are we already in the World Cup [finals]?" They are also the only team to have won a road game in the Hexagonal; other than Landon Donovan’s penalty, they have not let in a goal at home; and given their opinion of the Gold Cup (which I will address when that tournament draws near), until their game in August away to Honduras, there is nothing upcoming that could diminish their optimism.
This entry has nothing to do with where they stand now, though, and for a reason: following the advice that you learn more about yourself from a loss than you do from a win, a glance at the one moment in the era of current national-team coach Rodrigo Kenton when Costa Rica was made to look second-rate gives a particular insight into how people here react to a heartrending disappointment.
On March 28, la Sele had to face perhaps the most intimidating away fixture in all of North America: playing Mexico in the Estadio Azteca in the Federal District. With one exception, Mexico had never lost a competitive match there, including during the two World Cups they hosted - in 1970, Italy crushed them in Toluca, and in 1986 they technically did not lose a single game. Given the combination of altitude, air quality, the imposing hostility of over 100,000 fans in attendance, and the animation of the Mexican national team itself in such surroundings, it is no surprise in their long and accomplished history in the sport (especially in relation to the rest of CONCACAF) that only one team has ever managed to walk out of there with a win.
Fortunately, in the run-up to the March 28 game, the national media took the initiative of telling any one listening exactly who that team was: Paulo Wanchope, Rolando Fonseca, Hernán Medford, William Sunsing and the like have gone down in Costa Rican history for ending Enrique Meza’s time as coach of the Mexican national team with a 2-1 win in that very stadium back in 2001. I know for a fact that this happened, because at 11am on March 22, instead of the usual match in the Primera División (the national league), they replayed (no kidding) every minute of the "Aztecazo", the commentators beaming about reliving such fresh memories and hoping that the current team would take heart and believe in their chances of pulling off an "Aztecazo II", a term which found its way onto every sports page the following week. Except for the choice of referee –just about everyone on TV and in the radio here remembers Terry Vaughn [USA] for his harsh treatment of the team, who received all of three red cards on their way to getting kicked out of the 2007 Gold Cup 1-0 by the Mexican team "who knows how to ‘manage’ a ref at home", according to the Repretel announcers – for the media, the signs pointed in the direction of the Tricolor from Central America.
It made perfect sense that throughout the nation people sensed a real possibility of winning again there: before then, Costa Rica had won every game of the semi-final round, and to those who devalued that fact because of their opponents (El Salvador, Haiti and Suriname), they responded by winning at home against Honduras in the first match of the Hexagonal, something they had not done in a competitive match for 40 years. Meanwhile, Mexico was suffering an uncharacteristically horrible stretch; they barely survived their semi-final group after losing to Honduras on the last day to finish level on points with Jamaica, they started the Hexagonal by losing to the US 2-0 (an all-too-familiar song for Mexico’s road trips up north), the media pegged the Costa Rica match as the match which should decide whether or not to fire coach Sven-Göran Eriksson, and the pessimism grew to a point that during the infamous press conference with Nery Castillo, one reporter shouted to him, "And that’s why you’re going to lose!" Even a few Mexicans, apparently, had desensitized themselves to the possibility of crashing and burning in their own house.
No one from whom I personally heard thought that victory would be inevitable, but undoubtedly they were optimistic – I lost count of how many times I heard people mention an "Aztecazo" (as a possibility), and in my soccer class on Friday morning, I still remember that once, when a forward ran in to finish off a rebound, he shouted, "Medford!", scoring in the same manner that the mentioned player did back in 2001 to seal the victory. And the day of the game, one could see so many people walking around with Costa Rica jerseys on that an unknowing visitor could have understandably thought that a home game was about to take place.
In spite of expectations, hope and previous form, though, the game played out true to history’s script: while the Costa Ricans lacked inventiveness in their attack, or even an ability to control their own play (which the commentators on "Teletica" readily admitted in the post-game), Mexico did just enough – Eriksson himself spared little in his judgment: "as the Mexicans say, ¡qué poca m---e!" – to win 2-0 and give said coach four more days at his post before the Hondurans sent him and his multimillion-dollar severance payment on his way. Afterwards, in the post-game banter on both of the national channels, the pundits wrung their hands, resigned to admitting that Costa Rica simply played disjointedly and deserved to lose, and repented of having committed the cardinal sin of expecting a victory in Mexico. Fortunately for them, the Wednesday gave them a chance to recover their stride, although this required a contribution from the public, according to the head announcer on Zona Técnica (quote paraphrased): "After this result, we need people to go to the game against El Salvador. The stadium has to be full, because the team needs our support and because we have to beat El Salvador at home if we pretend to have a hope of qualifying."
Thanks to the inclusion of Carlos Hernández in said game, and to the current playmaker of the team Walter Centeno, they accomplished just that, and after the six points they hauled in June, they have a right to feel confident that South Africa is within sight. Costa Rica does have a nasty stretch coming up in August and September, though: away to Honduras, at home against Mexico, and away to El Salvador. Besides the intrigue of away games to fellow Central American countries (a theme that will be elaborated in the next entry), these challenges will determine if Costa Rica can keep its head above the pack and get to the World Cup finals comfortably – and believe me, if they do, I am sure that even back in the United States my inbox will be overflowing with imported Tico optimism.
Before I finish, I should correct myself on a comment I made in my last entry: the "other" of the two dominant parties in Costa Rican politics from 1948 until recently, la Unión Social Cristiana, still operates and competes in national elections. But as a classmate in my class on International Relations mentioned, they don’t "exist" anymore in the sense that due to serious losses in their support base, they are not even close to being considered a contender for either a great presence in the Asamblea Legislatura or for the presidency. If you catch any other factual errors, please be sure to let me know, and remember, if you have any topic that you would like me to cover in the July portion of the series, please send me your suggestions!
Soccer City FC Summer Series: Fútbol In Costa Rica:
Part I - Fútbol In Costa Rica - Part I: Who Am I And What Do I See
Part II - Fútbol In Costa Rica - Part II: Knocking The Giant Off The Mountaintop
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