It was a crude yet effective way of explaining to a foreigner that while soccer dominates in Costa Rica, the populace had yet to care deeply about women playing it. Fast forward six months, and the possibility of that gender gap narrowing looks more realistic. The Costa Rican women’s team recently qualified for its first-ever World Cup, the one being held in Canada next year.
The news led sports dailies in the Central American nation throughout last week, something the man from the above anecdote has never seen in years of combing through online soccer reports from the region. The coverage culminated with stories of the women’s team returning home to adoring fans at the San Jose airport and starring at pre-planned parties in the nation’s urban centres. One doesn't have to live in Costa Rica to know it would be silly to suggest the women’s team enjoys anything close to the popularity of the men’s side, or is capable of generating anything close to the hysteria that accompanied this summer’s men's World Cup. At least not yet.
The historic success of the women’s team coincided with some stellar performances by Costa Rican club sides in the Concacaf Champions League. For the first time since group stages were introduced in 2008, Costa Rica is sending three representatives to the quarterfinals. One more than either the U.S. or Mexico. That might just help prevent yet another boring Mexico versus Mexico final.
Big Three?
Any half-conscious journalism grad could tell you three make a trend. So considering the stunning romp to the World Cup quarterfinals the Costa Rican men enjoyed this summer, the surprising success of the Costa Rican club sides internationally and the Costa Rican women's historic accomplishment (beating Mexico in the qualifying process to boot) is it time we talk about a Big Three in Concacaf?
Others certainly are. This author recently listened to an entire episode of ESPN Deportes ‘Futbol Centroamericano’ program in which grown men from across the U.S. phoned in to argue loudly with the hosts about whether Costa Rica can be referred to as the “Papi de Concacaf.” And hey, for whatever the Fifa rankings are worth, Costa Rica currently sits 16th in the world, ahead of Mexico (17) and the U.S. (23).
Is it ludicrous to assert that Costa Rica and it’s four and a half million inhabitants could sustain a challenge to the U.S.-Mexico hegemony in Concacaf? Probably. You'd also have to ignore several things: the 6-0 thumping the Costa Rican women eventually suffered in the Concacaf Championship at the hands of the U.S., or the healthy dose of luck the Costa Rican men enjoyed alongside their tactical sturdiness during the World Cup. Countries certainly rise and fall with any particular ‘Golden Generation’ of players. And with Costa Rica’s Real Madrid starlet Keylor Navas recently being named the best keeper in Spain it’s quite clear Costa Rica has such a generation right now.
More like Big Two and a half
Costa Rica certainly won’t unseat either of the Big Two, but it might sort of join them; collectively speaking, taking into account men's and women's football, as well as the strength of its domestic league. In terms of economic development and soccer infrastructure, the country certainly has an advantage over any other Central American aspirants. And the implications for both Canada’s men’s and women’s programs are not insignificant.
For the men, a perennially strong Costa Rica means an ever tighter squeeze in terms of World Cup qualifying. It's particularly unsettling in the context of (totally as of yet unfounded) rumours in the South American press about Fifa wanting to nick the half-spots Concacaf and Conmebol are allotted in the men's tournament. For the women, the threat is less serious in the short term. Improved levels of competition in Concacaf would make for more enjoyable games, and would seemingly only raise the level of the team’s play when it comes to the money matches against global powerhouses. The local soccer community focuses a lot of concern around Canada's relative slippage on the women's global stage, but maybe a day comes where the Canadian women are not automatic World Cup qualifiers?
Perhaps Costa Rica will fade in the coming years. Perhaps the messy, public divorce with manager Jorge Luis Pinto after this summer's World Cup signals disorder at the executive level. Perhaps the women will be trounced in Canada. Perhaps the men's Golden Generation will be followed by a barren one. What seems certain is that 2014 will be remembered fondly for years to come, as either a historic high point or a historic turning point.
What also seems certain is that Costa Rican bars will be busy during next summer's World Cup.