Costa Rica's team huddle as they take part in a training session at the Pernambuco Arena in Recife on June 19, 2014, on the eve of their 2014 FIFA World Cup Group D match against Italy. AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE
Costa Rica's team huddle as they take part in a training session at the Pernambuco Arena in Recife on June 19, 2014, on the eve of their 2014 FIFA World Cup Group D match against Italy. AFP PHOTO / GShow more

Sport

Costa Ricans know the cost of celebrating early at World Cup

Central Americans refuse to get carried away after win over Uruguay given their stumbles in the past, writes Ian Hawkey.

Ian Hawkey
Ian Hawkey
London

June 20, 2014

As they filed out of the Arena Castelao in Fortaleza last Saturday night, the players and coaching staff of Costa Rica spoke in chorus. They were thrilled, but not carried away.

“It’s only one match. There’s still a long way to go,” said Keylor Navas, the goalkeeper, whose save when the team trailed by a goal had been important in building toward the impressive comeback and 3-1 win over Uruguay.

“It’s a big step,” said Joel Campbell, scorer of the equaliser and the man of the match. “But there are still two matches to go.”

Costa Rican supporters were delighted by last Saturday’s coup, the thoroughly merited victory of “Los Ticos” over Uruguay, twice world champions, holders of the Copa America, World Cup semi-finalists in 2010, and the country who had prevented Costa Rica from reaching the previous World Cup with a narrow win in a play-off.

But fans of a certain age also know that bright beginnings are almost the norm for Costa Rica at these tournaments. It is sustaining momentum that is more of a challenge.

Scroll back to 2002, when Costa Rica won their first match, also by a two-goal margin, against China, then saw the dream of a place in the knockouts die in a loss to Brazil. The Costa Ricans went home with four points from that campaign and watched as Turkey, with whom they had drawn, finished third, and Brazil, against whom they had scored twice, won the tournament.

Rewind to 2006, and Costa Rica also scored twice in their opening fixture, the curtain-raiser of the entire competition, against Germany. Alas, they also conceded four that evening, and again were on their way home after three games.

This time, the sheer weight of pedigree in Group D suggested Brazil 2014 would be a brief adventure. They were up against three former winners of the trophy, including Italy, their opponent today.

Perceptions outside the small Central America nation regarding their potential have changed since Uruguay were overrun by the speed, precision and fine planning of Costa Rica. “The fact that they have beaten Uruguay might actually be a good thing from our point of view,” said Daniele de Rossi, the Italy midfielder.

“There is no way we could underestimate them now.”

The climate, in coastal, humid Recife, may also suit the Costa Ricans better than the Italians, De Rossi said. It might, but the majority of this Costa Rican squad spend at least nine months a year away from the Caribbean. They are all-weather sportsmen.

The current squad is by far the worldliest party of players they have taken to a World Cup tournament, including a cadre based in the United States’ Major League Soccer and another five with contracts in Scandinavian leagues.

Captain Bryan Ruiz has been in European club football for eight years, most successfully in Holland’s Eredivisie, where he spent the second half of last season on loan at PSV Eindhoven from Fulham.

Navas was among the top four or five keepers in Spain’s Primera Liga last season, for Levante. Campbell had a bright Uefa Champions League campaign with Olympiakos, where he was on loan from the English Premier League’s Arsenal, including a spectacular goal in a last-16 tie against Manchester United.

Campbell is anxious to advance his career farther, by establishing himself at Arsenal in 2014/15, but points to the strides he made as a player during the various loan arrangements – with Real Betis, in Spain, and with Lorient, in France, as well as in Greece – since he first became an Arsenal employee at age 18.

“I have worked hard every day at Olympiakos, as I did at Betis and Lorient, and it has been good for me.”

He played with swagger and confidence in his World Cup debut, capping his performance with an assist on the third goal, scored by Marcos Urena, the Russia-based striker.

Paulo Wanchope, who in the 1990s with England’s Derby County was something a pioneer for the Costa Rican game, and a rarity for creating a profile for himself abroad, is now an assistant coach with the national side. A former striker, he said experience abroad has emboldened Costa Rica.

“We are capable of scoring against anyone,” Wanchope said. “We can exert strong control defensively and be very disciplined when we need to be, and we know that Joel or Urena or even Bryan Ruiz and Cristian Bolanos, any of those guys can score. Add the fact we have pace and that makes us very good in attack.”

Midfielder Jose Miguel Cubero said his team have no intention of playing for a draw.

“When you play for a draw in football, you usually end up losing. We’re going for the win against Italy,” Cubero said.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”