What Gustavo Alfaro said after Costa Rica’s tough defeat against Colombia

Colombia beat Costa Rica 3-0 this Friday, within the framework of the second date of the Copa América 2024. After this victory, Néstor Lorenzo’s team secured qualification for the round of 16 and remain the sole leaders of the Group d. While Gustavo Alfaro’s men, who had just won a draw against Brazil in their debut, found it difficult to advance further.. In that sense, What did the Argentine coach say after the fall?

“In these types of games, mistakes are costly. The goalkeeper had saved us in that circumstance (a shot by James Rodríguez at 19 minutes), But you can’t make mistakes,” Alfaro initially expressed.

“With the second goal the game became uphill. The mistakes we made and the lack of ability to hold the ball ended up costing us a lot,” said the coach.

Then, he recognized Costa Rica’s difficulties when building its attacks and encouraged his team to improve: “Is it a deficit that we have? Yes, it is a deficit that we have. Let (the players) be encouraged to play, we have done two million jobs to improve our offense and play generation.

In fact, along those same lines, Alfaro said that at halftime (Costa Rica was down 1-0) he warned the players that the match could only be equalized if they were more motivated in attack: “I told them in the first half : “If they want to tie the game, they have to play, if we don’t play it is impossible to tie this game.”

Finally, the Argentine coach mentioned that, in this type of defeats, the turnover of footballers that the national team is going through, which no longer has figures like Keylor Navas or Bryan Ruiz, has a lot of influence: “These types of defeats, although painful, are part of the process of generational change.”

Costa Rica will face Paraguay next Tuesday, July 2, from 10 p.m. (Argentine time), at the Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas.

Colombia, leader of Group D, is already classified with its six points. And if Brazil beats Paraguay, it will be one step away from qualifying (it would reach four points). If these results are obtained, for Costa Rica to reach the quarterfinals, they would have to win their last match against Paraguay with a goal difference that surpasses the Brazilians and hope that the Canarinha lose against the Cafeteros.