Costa Rica Drops Nice Guy Approach for World Cup Campaign
Few teams will be awaiting December's World Cup draw as eagerly as Costa Rica.

Appearing at the World Cup for the second successive time and the third overall, Costa Rica has set the second round as their target and coach Alexandre Guimaraes believes the draw will be crucial.

"It's like an extra competition," he said. "Our job has three stages: qualify for the World Cup, wait and hope that those little balls don't mess things up for us and, finally, play at the World Cup."

Guimaraes, born in Brazil, played for Costa Rica in 1990 and also coached them in 2002.

He then resigned but returned in April to become their third coach of the qualifying campaign after Steve Sampson of the United States and Colombia's Jorge Luis Pinto came and went.

The Costa Ricans had struggled until his return. They needed the away goals rule to beat Cuba in a preliminary game, then sneaked through the first group stage after holding Honduras to a tense goalless draw away from home in their final match.

A run of four wins in six games in the final stage under Guimaraes clinched their place.

Most of the squad are drawn from three clubs -- Herediano, Alajuelense and Saprissa -- with only a handful of players based abroad.

Qatar-based Paulo Wanchope, their all-time leading scorer with 43 goals, still leads the attack but looks less sharp than four years ago and has said he will retire from international duties after the finals.

Guimaraes says his side are more mature and tougher than in 2002, when they played some flowing football but were considered a soft touch.

"Before, Costa Rica were a fair-play team, naive and just interested in attacking," he said. "This time, everybody's going to notice the difference."