Tears turn to fears as reality bites for Costa Rica

He called home around four hours after the final whistle in Recife, where the national side had made history by reaching the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time thanks to a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Greece.

At the sound of his voice his father burst into tears. ‘What have we done?’ he asked his son, who is a member of a small and tight-knit Costa Rican press pack. ‘How have we done this?’