Costa Rica’s national team threw away a three-goal halftime lead and lost 4-3 to Curaçao last night, a huge collapse that left home fans booing, chanting for coach Fernando Batista’s exit and mocking their own team with olé chants before many of them streamed out of the stadium.
The Concacaf Nations League opener at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa was Batista’s first competitive match in charge since Costa Rica missed the 2026 World Cup. For 45 minutes, it looked like the fresh start the program had been waiting for. Orlando Sinclair opened the scoring in the third minute with a hard, angled shot inside the box, his first goal for the national team.
Carlos Mora added a second midway through the first half and struck again from the edge of the area just before the break to make it 3-0. Curaçao, which qualified for the 2026 World Cup for the first time in its history, turned the game after coach Dick Advocaat sent on Kenji Gorré, Tahith Chong and Jordi Paulina in the 57th minute. Those three substitutes produced all four of the visitors’ goals in a span of about 20 minutes.
Gorré pulled one back in the 62nd minute, and Chong beat goalkeeper Abraham Madriz with a shot from outside the area four minutes later. Gorré leveled the score at 3-3 in the 78th minute, tapping in after a teammate’s shot hit the post, and Paulina volleyed in a cross from Juninho Bacuna with less than 10 minutes left to complete the comeback.
Batista accepted responsibility afterward. He said the team had the match under control and played well in the first half, but that his decision to reorganize the defense when Gerald Taylor came on cost Costa Rica control of the midfield, and that two quick goals shook the side. He said the second half was his responsibility and that he understood the fans’ anger.
The players shouldered the blame as well. Midfielder Orlando Galo said the team came out of halftime without the courage Costa Rica represents, lost its shape and failed to show character, adding that the players alone were responsible. Mora said it was not the first time the team had let a lead slip and that a match under control cannot get away like that.
Captain Francisco Calvo called the defeat a very hard blow and described the second half as a slump. He said the team still has three group matches left and must recover the points in Jamaica. The frustration carried past the final whistle. Reports from the stadium said Galo and Calvo were involved in a confrontation with several Curaçao players in the area beneath the stands, with shoving and insults but no punches, before security staff separated the two groups and sent them to their locker rooms.
Inside the stadium, a section of the crowd began chanting “Fuera Bocha,” calling for Batista’s dismissal, after Curaçao’s third goal, and security near the Costa Rica bench was reinforced for the final minutes. Many fans left after the fourth goal, while the Curaçao players celebrated with the small group of visiting supporters. Attendance was sparse and Costa Rica played at Saprissa because the National Stadium was booked for other events during at this time.
Costa Rica sits in Group A of League A alongside Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Curaçao, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, and only the top two teams advance to the quarterfinals. In the group’s other opening matches, the Dominican Republic beat Nicaragua 3-2 and Haiti defeated Trinidad and Tobago.
There is little time to regroup since Costa Rica faces Haiti on Sunday at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, then travels to Managua to play Nicaragua before hosting Haiti at Saprissa on Oct. 4. The defeat adds to a difficult stretch for a program still rebuilding after its World Cup elimination, one that also included a 3-0 friendly loss to England in June.
