Italy vs Costa Rica

Date
Fri 20th June 2014 (UTC)

Timestamp

Time

13:00:00 UTC

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League
FIFA World Cup

Season
2014

Round
0

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Description

The two teams had met in one previous match, in a friendly in 1994.

Mario Balotelli had Italy's best chance in the first half, lobbing the ball wide from inside the penalty area. Late in the first half, Joel Campbell had a penalty appeal denied, but Costa Rica nevertheless took the lead within a minute, as Júnior Díaz crossed from the left for Bryan Ruiz to head the ball onto the crossbar and over the line from close range. Costa Rica was able to hold on for the win in the second half, ensuring their qualification for the knockout stage, their first since 1990, while simultaneously ensuring England's group stage exit, their first since 1958.

Costa Rica became the second country to beat two World Cup champions in the group stage of one tournament, the other being Denmark, who had done it twice in 1986 (Uruguay and West Germany) and 2002 (Uruguay and France). Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon appeared in his fourth World Cup (he was also in the squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but did not appear in any match), the fifth Italian player to do so.