Why you should watch every team at the 2018 World Cup

Costa Rica

2018 will be Costa Rica’s attempt at following up their run to the 2014 quarterfinal. That year, they were placed in the crazily difficult Group D, alongside Italy, England and Uruguay. Somehow, Los Ticos beat Italy and Uruguay and managed a 0-0 draw with England on the final day en route to a group win, knocking the two European giants out of the tournament.

It was an impressive display by the Central Americans, but they were not done. They beat Greece in a thrilling round of 16 game on penalties despite giving up a stoppage time equalizer, and then took the Netherlands all the way to PKs before finally bowing out on a Michael Umana miss.

This year, they will feature Real Madrid starting keeper Keylor Navas in goal, star attacker Joel Campbell, who remains on the books at Arsenal, and LAFC forward Marco Urena, an expert in the art of being a striker and a classic example of a player who shows up for international matches.

The other MLS players on the final squad are Francisco Calvo (a current Minnesota disaster at center-back), Kendall Waston (Vancouver), Ronald Matarrita (happily healthy at NYCFC), David Guzman (Portland), Rodney Wallace (NYC) as well as Urena and Johan Venegas, who is on loan from Minnesota to Saprissa. Concerns surround their backline, particularly Calvo, but Costa Rica will be an interesting watch this summer in another tough group.