A convincing qualifying campaign has given Costa Rica a boost as the Central Americans head south for their fourth World Cup brimming with confidence.
The Ticos's captain Bryan Ruiz wants to at least equal their best ever World Cup showing down in Brazil by emulating or surpassing the 1990 group, who were led by Hernan Medford and his teammates.
Back at Italia 90 Costa Rica qualified from a group featuring Brazil, Scotland and Sweden before taking a cold shower in their last-16 match with the Czech Republic, when they lost 4-1.
Their Colombian coach Jorge Pinto, who has been at the helm since September 2011 had been hoping for what he called a balanced group, but unfortunately for the Central Americans the draw was tough on them, with Uruguay, Italy and England all coming out of the pot with Costa Rica.
"If we concentrate on our individual qualities and our collective understanding then we can equal or even do better than the 1990 team," an optimistic Pinto said after the draw.
But even the other three teams will go into that group fearing elimination at the first round, which is what happened to Costa Rica at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups with Paulo Wanchope, Walter Centeno and co.
European flavour
Costa Rica clinched their ticket for the 2014 World Cup with a strong qualifying campaign, coming second behind the United States in the final qualifying round thanks to a series of five victories in San Jose and beating the United States and Mexico on the way.
Observers say the team is balanced throughout the lines and that, thanks to so many of their players starring in the European Leagues, their technical and tactical skills are on a level with some of the big guns.
Pinto, who coached Costa Rica without much success between 2004-2005, can bank on a cast-iron defence that only let in seven goals in the final round of qualifying, perhaps thanks largely to their goalkeeper Keylor Navas of Levante.
Two of their defenders, Geancarlo Gonzalez and Cristian Gamboa were both in Norway until recently with Gonzalez returning this season to Columbus Crew.
In midfield the captain Bryan Ruiz in on loan at PSV Eindhoven and is flanked by Celso Borges who plays in Sweden and Christian Bolanos of FC Copenhagen.
Two handy strikers always help a team look good and that is what Costa Rica have in Alvaro Saborio, who plies his trade with US outfit Real Salt Lake and who scored eight goals in qualifying, and the youngster Joel Campbell, 22, who is on loan from Arsenal to Olympiakos.
Nevertheless, only an optimist is likely to believe tha even a balanced team such as this one will be good enough to escape from a group featuring three former World Cup winners.
Costa Rica - Factfile
Population: 4.7 million
Area: 51,100 km2
Capital: San Jose
Currency: Colon
Federation: Costa Rican Football Federation founded in 1921, affiliated to Fifa in 1927
Registered players: 61,000
Colours: Red shirt, blue shorts and white socks
World Cup appearances: 4 (1990, 2002, 2006, 2014)
World Cup record: Second round (1990), first round (2002, 2006)
Gold Cup (ex-CONCACAF Cup): Winner (1963, 1969, 1989), finalist (2002), 3rd (1965, 1971, 1985, 1993), 4th (1991, 2003, 2009)
How they qualified
Came 2nd in final qualifying group with 18pts behind the United States on 22 points, ahead of Honduras 15pts, Mexico 11, Panama 8 and Jamaica 5 with 5 wins, 3 draws, 2 defeats 13 goals for and 7 against.
Top clubs: Deportivo Saprissa, CS Herediano, LD Alajuelense, CS Cartaginense
Key players: Bryan Ruiz, Joel Campbell, Keylor Navas, Christian Bolanos
Coach: Jorge Pinto (Col/since Sep. 2011)