Reacciones del Mundial desde Costa Rica

Reacciones del Mundial desde Costa Rica

When I found out that I would be living in a Latin American country during the World Cup, I was pretty excited. I imagined that the atmosphere in Costa Rica would be similar to that of March Madness in the United States. I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed, but I have to admit, if my country did not qualify for the World Cup I probably would not show too much interest either. I expected a celebratory atmosphere during the World Cup games, with large get-togethers of friends and family watching the games. In years past, when Costa Rica had qualified for the World Cup, this was the case. This World Cup was obviously a different story, as Costa Rica did not qualify.

All in all, however, it is clear that Costa Rica is a soccer playing country. Every morning during the World Cup games, community members were pegged to the television set watching every play attentively. This was especially evident when the big name teams like Brazil, Spain, or Portugal played. One pulperia owner even said that she had experienced less business due to the World Cup games.

I found it interesting the amount of Costa Ricans that were cheering for European teams instead of Latin American teams throughout the World Cup. The majority of community members I talked with rooted for Holland instead of Spain in the final game, even though Spain is a Spanish speaking country and has way more in common in terms of culture than Holland.

The last observation I made perhaps worth noting was the amount of attention given to Costa Rican soccer during the World Cup and the disillusionment of Costa Ricans because their team did not qualify. It seemed like every day in “La Nación” I would read a headline that asked what went wrong for Costa Rica for the team not to qualify, what the team will need to do to qualify for the next World Cup, and what Costa Rican players were doing during the World Cup games. It reminded me of the disappointment I experience when one of my sports teams in the U.S. does not make the NBA Playoffs or make it in to the Field of 64 for March Madness. Unfortunately, I guess disappointment is one thing sportsfans all around the world share.

Carlos