Pinto looks For Better Tournament

Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto could be forgiven for thinking the World Cup gods are against him.

After failing to take the Central American side to the 2006 finals and then proving equally as unsuccessful with his native Colombia for the 2010 campaign, the 61-year-old now has theft to contend with.

Just last month, Pinto’s notes for a book he was writing, his iPad, contact details and scouting reports on World Cup rivals England, Italy and Uruguay were all stolen from his car parked outside a restaurant in San Jose.

“They stole details of all my press conferences, my cellphone, cash, personal papers. They also took a book I have had for 20 years which contained the numbers of friends and people in football,” said Pinto.

“Now where am I going to get those numbers?” Such misfortunes are nothing new to pint-sized, 1.65m (5ft 5in) Pinto.

In his 30-year coaching career, he has managed Costa Rica and Colombia as well as 12 different clubs – some of them more than once – in his native Colombia as well as Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador.

But with a national squad featuring more and more players forging their skills in the tough European leagues – men like Bryan Ruiz and Joel Campbell – luck may be turning for Pinto.