Soccer – Costa Rican Style

One Saturday night last October, a bunch of us gringos met at Rock & Roll Pollo, a popular restaurant on the Calle Vieja (old road) in Santa Ana, not too far from the center of town.

Six of us were seated at a picnic table, enjoying ribs and meatloaf – good ol – US of A-type food.

This restaurant attracts many gringos, but this night the place was packed with Ticos. On the big screen TV and the smaller TVs placed around the restaurant, the soccer game between Costa Rica and the United States was playing.

The big super team from the U.S. was playing on Costa Rican turf. If Costa Rica won this match, they would qualify to play in the 2006 World Cup, a prestigious championship that is played every four years.

To say that Costa Ricans LOVE soccer with all capital letters is an understatement. I don’t think the U.S. has any equivalent of fervor. Sure, Yankee fans would die for their team, Red Sox fans stayed alive just to see their team win the World Series, but the enthusiasm shown by Americans for their sports teams pales in comparison to the united front Ticos demonstrate for their national soccer team.

I think the English word “fan” comes from the word “fanatic,” because that’s how Ticos behave towards their team. In fact, Tico fans are called fanáticos.

We Gringos were chatting up a storm and not paying any attention to the game when suddenly a deafening cheer arose from every other person in the restaurant. We looked at the big screen and saw that Costa Rica had scored. My first instinct was to boo. After all, the competitor/enemy had scored against my country.

Then I realized that while the U.S. is my country of birth, Costa Rica is my country of choice now, and if I wanted to live to see my next birthday, I had better not boo. When the folks at my table started politely applauding for Costa Rica, I joined in. And felt tears in my eyes as I cheered for a team that had suddenly become my own. I didn’t know when I moved here that I would be caught up in the soccer frenzy that rules this small nation, but there I was.

When the second Costa Rican goal was made, I didn’t need to think twice about cheering. But I also felt sad, and a little embarrassed, that the great superteam from the United States hadn’t even scored one goal.

I was happy for the Costa Ricans who don’t have the wide variety of sports (football, baseball, hockey, basketball) that Americans do. Most Americans have an excess of riches in all areas of life compared to Costa Ricans who live with much less and seem to be a happier people. By the time Costa Rica nailed the U.S. team’s coffin shut with the third goal, I was a Costa Rican soccer fan.

On June 9, 2006, Costa Rica opened the World Cup by playing against Germany, the host country. For weeks leading up to The Game, every conversation in this country focused on La Sele, the Costa Rican team that would show the world that little Costa Rica was a force to be reckoned with.

The Game was so important to the spirit of the Costa Rican people that the morning of June 9 was declared a national holiday for government employees. Virtually everyone living in Costa Rica watched The Game. My neighbors and I prepared a breakfast feast to eat in front of the television set in our rancho (covered BBQ area). We followed every minute of the action, and this new Tica learned a lot about the sport.

At the end of the 90-minute game, we did not cheer. We collected our plates and cups and brought them inside to be washed. We – our Costa Rican team – had lost the game, 4-2. All the hopes of this country, all the built-up fervor from the previous October’s win over the United States, was released, like air from a sad balloon.

We still had one more chance. If we won our second game against Ecuador – notice I use “we” now because I truly became a Costa Rican fan during that game against Germany – we could still be in the running for the World Cup.

But then on June 15, we watched Costa Rica lose 3-0 to Ecuador. The headlines the next day said that grown men were crying in the streets. That’s how dejected the people felt in this country. That’s how important soccer is to this proud, pura vida nation.

Maybe in 2010…

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Written by Margie Davis who is retired in Costa Rica.

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Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.