“La Sele” Embarrassed by Ukranian Showing
Fiasco. Disaster. Embarrassing. Are just some of the nicer words being used to describe the National Soccer Teams performance in friendly matches leading up to the World Cup opener against Germany June 9th. While the loss last week to the Catalan selection stung, the 4-0 whipping by the Ukranians has cast doubts on the entire process. The local press blames the directors, coach and players for the situation.
Sunday’s match started off well for the Ticos, the first 25 minutes they controlled the Ukranian attack and the ball. However they never generated dangerous options for Gomez or Saborio. The following 15 minutes were a disaster. At the 28th minute goalkeeper Wardy Alfaro was unable to control a floating ball in the area and the home field advantage came into play as Ukranian striker Nazarenko controlled the ball with his left hand and then shot a worm burner past the scrambling Alfaro.
5 minutes later a lack of communication between Alajuela teammates Marin and Alfaro led to a steal and goal by forward Vorobey. And almost immediately the Ukranians sentenced the match when Kalynychenko put in an easy header after Alfaro rejected a shot by Nazarenko.
The good news for the Ticos is that because of injuries and experimentation, the starting 11 have not yet played together in any of the friendly matches. Coach Alexandre Guimaraes has promised that the 11 who will start against Germany June 9th will play on Tuesday against the Czech Republic. According to the coach, the defeat hurt the team emotionally, because of the margin, but there is no need to panic.
“We can improve and I am completely convinced that we are going to have a good showing in the World Cup, there is no doubt. The team that will come out against theCzech Republic is the team that will open against Germany. “