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You are here: Home / Sports / Uruguay v Costa Rica Open Thread

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  2. 2.

    Morzer

    I am all for Costa Rica achieving an epic triumph, but I fear that the overwhelming likelihood is a crushing Uruguay victory.

    Old Serie A nerd joke: which Latin American country is Costacurta again?

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack

    We should be rooting for Costa Rica, because that’s where we’re all going to retire if the middle class doesn’t reverse its slide.

  8. 8.

    burnspbesq

    Finally a penalty call that no one can dispute. An excellent tackle … in rugby or Australian rules football.

  9. 9.

    Tommy

    @Morzer: I was stunned the other day Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said the wealth needed to be spread around. Look I am a middle to upper middle class guy. I sell web sites, so clearly not a lot of lower income people are calling me.

    But if I owned a coffee shop, used book store, heck a McDonalds I’d want more people to have more money, SO THEY COULD SPEND IT AT MY BUSINESS. It is just ECON 101.

  11. 11.

    Steeplejack

    @Morzer:

    When the time comes, I have a friend who will get me on a trawler overloaded with American refugees. It will founder just off the Costa Rican coast. Many will drown, but the lucky survivors will start a new life in the “Little Springfield” section of San José.

  15. 15.

    tsquared2001

    Both games today have been wide open. Makes me think think the US might have a chance if nobody wants to play defense

  16. 16.

    Tony J

    Much as I love the dynamic goal monster that is Luis Suarez when he’s wearing Liverpool red, I really hope he doesn’t get off the bench at this World Cup. Without him Uruguay look decidedly one dimensional and Costa Rica haven’t particularly impressed.

  19. 19.

    tsquared2001

    Halftime. I got a question – there is a hawk near work and when I am on a cig break I see all these little birds (robins and crows) try to jump on his wings when he is in flight. He is three times the size of these birds but he just shrugs them off. What is that about?

  20. 20.

    Onkel Fritze

    @KG: They don’t really teach that – you don’t want to help the competition. It’s all natural talent.

  21. 21.

    Morzer

    Well, so far Uruguay have looked like a decent, but relatively limited side and Costa Rica have pretty much matched them. I suspect England and Italy will both feel that they can deal with Uruguay but Costa Rica might require a bit more planning than anticipated.

  23. 23.

    Morzer

    @tsquared2001:

    Classic mobbing of a hawk by smaller birds. Crows have a particular tendency to do it, but I’ve seen smaller birds run a red-tail out of the neighborhood.

  27. 27.

    Alex S.

    @Morzer:

    I think Uruguay is just doing the bare minimum to conserve strength for the other games. But Costa Rica is indeed a little more dangerous than expected. They’re actually the best ‘worst’ team of the group in this World Cup, according to the FIFA world ranking.

  28. 28.

    tsquared2001

    @ Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name) @Morzer says: thanks u2. I knew the commentariat would have an answer

  31. 31.

    burnspbesq

    That was an excellent buildup by the Ticos. Dear Mr. Wenger, will you finally give me a shot. Sincerely, Joel Campbell.

  32. 32.

    tsquared2001

    @raven: Dang. He is a big boy. Needs to take it to them, HARD. So survival of the fittest is so not a bird thing is what you’ll telling me. Or maybe just owls and hawks are all I can’t be bothered like the keeper for Uruguay on that goal. GOAL

  33. 33.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    Uruguay might want to do a bit less conserving and a bit more scoring.

  36. 36.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    I can see a foul on that but did Gargano really deserve a card? That’s an honest question; I don’t know this game that well.

  37. 37.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    TICOS! #2!

    Gotta pull for the CONCACAF teams.

  43. 43.

    burnspbesq

    Same delivery, and Duarte learns from Bolanos’ mistake.

    Shocking turnaround.

  47. 47.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    As I said, I don’t know this game but it really looks to me like Uruguay is wilting badly right now.

    Edit: I don’t mean just that they’ve given up two goals. They’re whining to the ref and have terrible body language.

  48. 48.

    Tony J

    Well spank my monkey’s uncle, Costa Rica on fire. Uruguay better get their act together or this could end up very, very embarrassing.

    Stay on the bench Luis, rest that knee for next season.

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack

    Dang. The Ticos manager must have given them the “Did we quit when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!” speech at halftime.

  51. 51.

    tsquared2001

    I am just happy that Uruguay is losing. Out of the 32 teams, I hate Spain, England, Portugal, Germany, Uruguay and Ghana (of course). My love of Messi is such that I can’t put Argentina on that list

  55. 55.

    raven

    @tsquared2001: I’m not sure, I guess he (or she) was such a baddass just taking it was a big fuck you. I didn’t understand the mobbbing behavior until a local naturalist told me the other species gang up to try to drive them away.

  56. 56.

    humboldtblue

    We’ve seen some wonderful attacking and wide-open football which just means England and Italy will come out tonight and play like it’s 1982 in a 0-0 bore-fest filled with more fake drama than a Gilbert and Sullivan play and more diving than an olympics

  57. 57.

    burnspbesq

    If this match is your first look at Cavani, you could be excused for wondering what all the fuss is about.

  62. 62.

    humboldtblue

    @raven: Most likely, but this is shaping up to be a group stage for the ages. The field has closed so dramatically in the past 16 years

  63. 63.

    Tony J

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    Sort of yes, sort of no. Obstruction is a foul, but you’re under no obligation to move out if the way if an opponent wants go from A to B via C, C being where you’re standing. There’s a lot of blocking going on at every set-piece, but it’s usually ignored by the officials unless it descends into pulling, overt pushing or tripping.

  64. 64.

    tsquared2001

    @raven: So it is called mobbing behavior. That so rocks. I gotta get that phrase in my everyday vernacular

  67. 67.

    burnspbesq

    Wow. Godin was the best defender in La Liga this year, and Campbell very nearly left him for dead.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    An upset in the making. And if it stays this way, there goes South America’s 100% record at the 2014 World Cup. Still, I can’t complain because Hannibal Suarez is now being rested for the next match.

  69. 69.

    humboldtblue

    @tsquared2001: Yup. Plus there are quite simply no two less sympathetic teams than Italy and England. I’d cheer for the Germans before I would cheer for either

  71. 71.

    Tony J

    @humboldtblue:

    I really don’t think so. The spine of England’s midfield and forward line is composed of Liverpool players, and that means attacking, fast paced football whenever possible, with instant pressure on the Italians whenever they get possession.

    Four years ago they destroyed us because we sat off them and let them dictate play from midfield. Will not happen tonight.

  75. 75.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Randy Paul:

    No, even Mexico. I’ve had this discussion with Mexicans with whom I work. I’ll will root against El Tri in friendlies, I will root against them in WC qualifiers or any other tournament. But I will root for them (unless, of course, they face the US) in the WC finals tourney. A rising tide lifts all boats.

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    @raven:
    I think you might miss something, if England’s young and eager forwards come out firing. That’s surely what Woy Hodgson had in mind when he picked them.

  81. 81.

    burnspbesq

    Another high-quality goal for CRC. They are absolutely the better team tonight.

  84. 84.

    Alex S.

    Heh, wonderful pass.. another sensation.

    Luckily, I won’t watch the next games in front of the computer screen, so I’ll avoid making a couple of disastrous predictions.

  85. 85.

    MikeJ

    @tsquared2001: Twice a day in the summer, I can hear a hundred crows squawking. in the morning they’re chasing a bald eagle north, and in the afternoon the eagle commutes back home while still being chased.

  86. 86.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    Except for a five minute stretch in the middle of this half when Uruguay threatened and Costa Rica looked out of sorts, this has been a thorough ass-kicking, though not as bad as the second half of Netherlands/Spain.

    And am I the only one it bugs when the announcers keep referring to the Oranje as Holland? It’s like referring to the U.S. team as “New York”.

  89. 89.

    Tony J

    @humboldtblue:

    And I was being optimistic. They’re playing in the middle of a rainforest, it could well turn out to be a slow paced bore-draw with both sides hoping to conserve energy for the latter two games.

  90. 90.

    raven

    @Amir Khalid: Yea, the play is at 8 and is only a few block away. I’ll either watch until I HAVE to leave and hit the DVR or just DVR the entire second half and hope no one at Steel Magnolia’s let’s the cat out of the bag.

  91. 91.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    And a bad game goes completely south for Uruguay with an ugly red card.

  96. 96.

    Tony J

    94 minutes and change on the clock, you’ve already lost the game, why the frickering hell would you do something that colossally stupid? That’s almost Zidanesque.

  97. 97.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    There’s a great TV ad on now about a guy trying to get home from work without hearing the outcome of the game that he has DVR’ed. He finally makes it, and the first thing his daughter says is “We won, Daddy!”

  98. 98.

    Morzer

    Well, I said I was for an epic triumph by Costa Rica – but I never thought it was going to be quite so decisive. What a goal that third one was.

    Pereira was an utter idiot to foul the way he did – and I hope FIFA brings the hammer down with serious intent.

    I wonder how England and Italy will feel about facing Costa Rica now.

  102. 102.

    SRW1

    Well done Costa Rica!

    Wonder whether this will incentivize even more risk aversion in the Italy-England game?

  103. 103.

    Morzer

    @Bill Murray:

    I thought a red card was a 1 game suspension automatically, with FIFA having the option of imposing a further ban for egregious misbehavior.

  105. 105.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    Yeah, it starts at 6:00 and should go to about 8:00, depending on how much extra time.

    ETA: Each half 45 minutes, halftime about 15 minutes, stoppage time maybe up to five minutes for each half, that gets you to 7:55. Maybe enough time to sprint down to the theater and spoil the game for someone else.

  106. 106.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Randy Paul:

    I just can’t pull against a team because of a single player. If, like, say, Italy, Mexico had a long history of cynical play, then, yeah, I could root against ’em. But Mexico doesn’t.

    Here’s the kind of thing that will get me rooting against a team for a very long time.

  108. 108.

    Onkel Fritze

    @Morzer: No. If you get a yellow card and then yellow – red, it’s like that. Every straight red card gets it’s own review panel which decides how many games suspension is appropriate. Usually it’s more than one.

  109. 109.

    Morzer

    @Onkel Fritze:

    Gotcha. I had forgotten the difference between two yellows and straight red.

    I would be delighted if Pereira were banned for a half dozen games. That was a malignant foul.

  110. 110.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Randinho:

    That was the first World Cup I watched, and it turned me off to West Germany (and the later reunified Germany) until the last World Cup. There’d be German players I really liked, such as Klinsmann, and I’d think, “I hope you have a great game, Klinsy, but I also hope you lose.”

  113. 113.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Morzer:

    I was bummed last time around when we drew with Slovenia and Algeria drew with England, knowing Algeria needed a win over us (and by a few goals) to move on.

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