SAN JOSE, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis Tuesday welcomed home the national team, following their highly-praised performance at the 2014 Brazil World Cup.
The president, accompanied by top officials and hundreds of cheering students waving the red, white and blue flags, met the plane carrying the team as it landed at the Juan Santamaria International Airport in the capital San Jose.
Team captain Bryan Ruiz and goalkeeper Keylor Navas surprised their fans by waving flags of their own from inside the pilots' cockpit.
Coach Jorge Luis Pinto, meanwhile, cried "Long Live Costa Rica! These are the men who have made Costa Rica great!"
The players, who took the team to the quarterfinals for the first time in Costa Rican history, were given the red-carpet treatment as they exited the plane and walked towards a stage set up for a special welcome ceremony.
The team surprised the nation and the world by first accumulating enough points in the group phase of the championship to lead their Group D, considered "the group of death" as it featured former World Cup champions Italy, Uruguay and England.
The team then went on to lose their July 5 quarterfinal match against the Netherlands, but only after a tough game that saw the two teams tied through extra time. The Dutch finally won 4-3 in a penalty shootout, after making the unusual move of bringing out the 1.93-meter-tall substitute goalkeeper Tim Krul.
|
