Costa Rica manager Jorge Luis Pinto appears to have begun the mind games even before the World Cup 2014 has begun after he suggested that their group stage opponents England do not have precision. England will come into the World Cup looking to win the trophy for the first time since 1966. However, they are not close to being considered as favourites for the title after their repeated failures in major tournaments until now. They also face a tough group stage since they will be up against former world champions Uruguay and Italy along with Costa Rica.

Despite being considered as the whipping boys, Costa Rica manager Pinto says that he is confident of doing well in the tournament. They start the tournament with matches against Uruguay and Italy before finally finishing the group stages with England as their opponents. The pretournament preparation has not gone well for Costa Rica after they lost two more players due to injury. The manager recently named his final 23 man squad for the tournament, but it is one that will not feature several star names.

An injury ravaged Costa Rica team is not seen as a major threat to the likes of England and Italy. Pinto, however, sees things differently and says that they can be the surprise package. “England play fast football, sometimes without much precision. Italy are a very tactical team, I know them well from the last five or six World Cups. Uruguay are robust and have important attackers,” said the Costa Rica manager. Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez has dismissed suggestions that his team will be considered as the favourites to win the group. 'We are not among the favourites. But we know if we prepare well we can be a tough team to play. This is where we are focusing our attention,” said Oscar Tabarez.