If you thought the Danish interest in the World Cup ended last autumn at Parken with Italy’s injury-time winner, then you were wrong.
Because tonight, a Costa Rican left-sided midfielder, who has been calling that very ground home for the last four seasons, will be lining up with his team-mates in Recife with a place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup up for grabs.
Standout performances
Christian Bolaños, who is conveniently a free agent this summer after coming to the end of his contract with FC Copenhagen, has been shining on the pitch, picking up an assist in his country’s surprise 3-1 demolition of Uruguay, and then various man of the match accolades after their even more surprising 1-0 defeat of group favourites Italy.
In the end, Costa Rica comfortably won the group and were even able to rest players (Bolaños came on in the 59th minute) in their final game, a dead rubber 0-0 against an already eliminated England, with tonight’s game against Greece in mind.
Battle of the minnows
The ultra-defensive Greeks, who were equally unfancied to advance, will be particularly wary of Costa Rican striker Joel Campbell, who on loan at Olympiakos from Arsenal last season scored 11 goals, including one against Manchester United in the Champions League.
The FCK-Costa Rica connection does not end with Bolaños. National team-mate Bryan Oviedo, now with Everton, is a former Lion, having played for the Copenhagen side from 2010 until 2012. Sadly though, he broke his leg in January and did not recover in time to make the squad.
Dutch date most likely
Should Bolaños and Costa Rica see off the Greeks, they will play the winners of the Mexico vs Netherlands clash in the last eight.
According to Bet 365, Costa Rica are 6/4 favourites to win the clash in 90 minutes, Greece 23/10, while the draw is 21/10.
Bookmakers now rate the Central Americans as the ninth most likely team to win the tournament (best price 66/1) – a far cry from the start of the tournament when they were massive underdogs.
