Football, the sport that has brought us so much glory, served us the bitterest dose of reality last night. It wasn’t a nightmare; it was the chronicle of a predictable humiliation. The events of Thursday, November 13, 2025, will be marked in the dark history of Costa Rican football as the night our “World Cup pedigree” was shattered by the necessity and order of Haiti.
Meanwhile, a few hundred kilometers away, Nicaragua, a national team historically accustomed to looking up from the bottom, gave Honduras a lesson in football and authority.
The night in CONCACAF was a mirror of two realities: that of a team that wants to grow and proves it (Nicaragua), and that of a team living off past glories that are no longer enough (Costa Rica).
The Willemstad Disaster: Costa Rica 0, Haiti 1
The match, played in exile in Curaçao, was a reflection of the team we currently have: an apathetic, clueless, and dangerously arrogant squad. Because yes, we must call it arrogance. To walk onto the pitch against Haiti thinking that the Brazil 2014 jersey or the qualification for Qatar 2022 wins matches on its own is the first symptom of the disease.
And Haiti made us pay the price.
Let’s make no mistake, this isn’t a “surprise defeat.” This is the logical consequence of a project that isn’t working, a lack of generational change, and, above all, an alarming lack of hunger. Watching Costa Rica—a team that once went toe-to-toe with European powers—unable to generate a single clear idea against an organized but limited Haitian team is enough to make you weep.
The 1-0 scoreline is almost anecdotal. What is truly tragic is the image we project. That of a broken, soulless team, walking the field hoping for a miracle that never arrives. That “World Cup pedigree” we brag so much about was a heavy tombstone last night. It was an embarrassment.
This defeat doesn’t just cost us three vital points; it costs us our credibility and puts our 2026 World Cup qualification in intensive care.
The Lesson from Managua: Nicaragua 2, Honduras 0
To rub salt in the wound, while “La Sele” was busy embarrassing itself, the Nicaraguan national team was playing the game of its life in Managua. And winning. And winning convincingly.
With a resounding 2-0 victory, the Nicaraguans not only defeated Honduras (another “giant” of the area, also with World Cup history), but they did so with authority, with good football, and with a hunger we wish we could see in our own team.
Nicaragua’s win wasn’t luck; it was work. It was a project that, quietly, has been growing and last night proved that in modern football, history means nothing if it isn’t backed by a present. The “Pinoleros” taught Costa Rica and Honduras how a qualifier must be played: with a knife between their teeth and respect for the ball.
Conclusion: The Giant Has Fallen Asleep
Yesterday’s results are a harsh reality check. We are left with a humiliating defeat and the painful comparison of watching our northern neighbors doing their homework.
The loss to Haiti is rock bottom. It is the unequivocal sign that the model is exhausted. We are no longer the giants of CONCACAF; we are a memory that wanders the pitches of the region, invoking pity.
Hopefully, this embarrassment serves a purpose. Hopefully, it leads to a deep cleansing, a stop to living in the past, and an understanding that, as of today, we are at Haiti’s level. Or worse, because last night, Haiti was better.
