Top 5 surprise teams at the World Cup

Costa Rica (2014)

Italy v Costa Rica: Group D - 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

Costa Rica may have had a FIFA Ranking of 28 when they went to World Cup 2014, but placed in a group with England and Italy – two top 10 teams – as well as Uruguay, who were ranked seventh, little was expected of the Central Americans in Brazil.

Their lowly ranking did not deter them from causing a major upset in the opening game of the group. Faced with Uruguay, they fell a goal down to a first-half penalty but battled back to claim an impressive 3-1 upset victory.

Italy might have been lower ranked than Uruguay, but it was still a major shock as Bryan Ruiz’s goal on the stroke of half-time saw them defeated, while a scoreless draw against England in Belo Horizonte saw them through as group winners against opponents who were already eliminated.

After seeing off a resilient Greece in the knockout stages, they were then pitted against the Netherlands. It took a tight penalty shootout to see the Dutch through after a scoreless draw, and though Oranje would go no further in the competition, beaten by Argentina in the semi-finals, they showed their class to beat hosts Brazil in the third-place playoff.

Costa Rica had been the revelation of the tournament, however, and it will make opponents wary of facing them in Russia this time around.