Following Colombia’s convincing 3-0 victory over Greece, the country celebrated a second victory as Costa Rica, led by Colombian coach Jorge Luis Pinto, surprisingly beat Uruguay on Saturday.
The Central American team beat Uruguay — forced to keep star striker Luis Suarez on the bench — with 3-1.
“What counted is that we stayed calm and kept creating opportunities against a very tough team,” Pinto was quoted as saying by Associated Press.
“We have great respect for Uruguay but we weren’t that impressed tonight and we were able to play our game the way we wanted. So it was a big win for us.”
Costa Rican daily La Nacion said the result of Pinto and his team “exceeded any expectation.”
Spots fans around the world praised Pinto’s success with the underdog team.
Phenomenal. Underrated through qualifying, underrated at the draw, underrated after 45 minutes. Pinto deserves so much credit.
— Zack Goldman (@ThatDamnYank) June 14, 2014
Pinto said he noticed in WC qualifying that Uruguay had a weakness in the air & worked w/the team to exploit it. #URUvsCRC #CRC
— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) June 14, 2014
Idk why people are surprised by costa rica…they got a colombian manager #Pinto