Undiano Mallenco most decisive man on the field.

first

Already in the first fifteen minutes Uruguay players committed two deep red fouls Undiano Mallenco decided not to punish. This tactic of Undiano Mallenco did not work out well, the play became more rough, a style which Uruguayan professionals are very familiar with and the not so worldly professionals of Costa Rica are not. Uruguay merely won by their experience, not by their play.

strechers

If Undiano Mallenco is selected, World Cup teams should be aware of his style, he could make or break their chances for a succesful tournament. In this match Undiano Mallenco lacked an eye for common Latin-American trics, he missed a quite a few fouls committed right under his nose. One of his assistants was more wrong than right. Costa Rica left the arena with two players on stretchers and one player sent off. This sending off was correct though, the Costa Rican made two clear fouls, both awarded with a yellow booking, but it left the impression of injustice: Uruguayan players should have been sent off earlier in the game, Costa Rica were denied a fair chance.

ground

The atmosphere in San Jose was not very pleasant. Supporters were not sportive and were throwing a lot of rubbish on the field. The playground was a disaster, I did not notice much grass, the ball was mostly bumping up. These kind of matches, probably Costa Ricans most important match in the last decade, deserves a better (artificial ?) ground.