‘Historic’ win puffs up Costa Ricans

FORTALEZA, BRAZIL - JUNE 14: Costa Rica players celebrate with head coach Jorge Luis Pinto after their teams third goal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group D match between Uruguay and Costa Rica at Castelao on June 14, 2014 in Fortaleza, Brazil. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

FORTALEZA, BRAZIL - JUNE 14: Costa Rica players celebrate with head coach Jorge Luis Pinto after their teams third goal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group D match between Uruguay and Costa Rica at Castelao on June 14, 2014 in Fortaleza, Brazil. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Published Jun 16, 2014

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Fortaleza - Costa Ricans celebrated their World Cup victory over Uruguay as the greatest in their nation’s soccer history and warned other teams at the tournament to take them seriously from now on.

“Great team, poor Uruguay”, gloated the headline in La Nacion newspaper in a clear reference to a spat before the match, when Costa Ricans were angered by reports from Uruguay describing their country as Costa Pobre (Poor Coast) rather than Costa Rica (Rich Coast).

“Costa Rica record the greatest win in their history”, the paper said of the prosperous little nation in which bananas are among the major exports.

“Historic!” ran the headline in the online version of tabloid newspaper Diario Extra next to photographs of jubilant fans celebrating on the streets of the capital San José. In Brazil, thousands of red-shirted Costa Rica fans, undeterred by rain, celebrated on the beachfront in Fortaleza, scene of Saturday’s dramatic 3-1 victory.

Reuters

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