A major credit to the point earned by Costa Rica against Guinea in their Group C match at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at Fatorda-Goa goes to the spectacular performance of goalkeeper Ricardo Montenegro.
Of Guinea's 42 shots in the game, 14 of them were on target, which means that Montenegro and his defence prevented more than a dozen chances from resulting into goals. On the other hand, the Los Ticos scored twice from their five shots on goal.
Praising his goalkeeper, Costa Rica head coach Breansse Camacho said, "He's fantastic. We have been working with him in the past and I'm sure that in this tournament, he will show how good he is. He definitely has a very bright future."
"We have seen it tonight, especially when you play against African teams, they are physically strong. So we are satisfied with the result," he went on to admit that his side needs to retain the pressure on their opponents.
"We had some good moments. We were leading twice but were not in a position to keep the pressure. That's something that we should work on so that when we are leading in the match, we should close it," he stated.
Guinea head coach Souleymane Camara too made clear of his admiration for the rival goalkeeper and stressed of his confidence of making it through from the group stage.
"The goalkeeper of Costa Rica (Montenegro) played fantastic. He made at least seven great saves. According to me, he was the best player on the pitch and he has my congratulations," he remarked.
"We played a good match. We were clearly the best team but we couldn't score despite many chances. I am confident that we have improved a lot from the last match which gives us a good chances to qualify to the next round," Camara concluded.
Iran will be up against Costa Rica at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Goa, while Guinea travel to Kochi's Jawaharlal Nehru stadium where will face Germany. Both the concluding Group C fixtures are scheduled to kick-off at 17:00 IST at their respective venues.