In the 56th minute Los Ticos defender David Guzman made a crucial mistake, taking down Serbian forward Aleksandar Mitrovic thirty yards out and to the right of the goal, giving Aleksandar Kolarov and his thunderous left leg the perfect free kick angle.

Kolarov didn’t disappoint, curling the ball up and over the wall, and tucking it inside the post. The dive from Keylor Navas was futile, as he had no chance.

The teams seemed to reverse roles for the final third of the game. Serbia was content to soak up pressure, preferring to invite Costa Rican pressure rather than risk giving up a counter attack. Christian Bolaños and Joel Campbell were brought on to give the Costa Rican attack some verve, but the Serbian defense was stout.

The final five minutes of stoppage time became eight as Senegalese referee Malang Diedhiou twice stopped play to look at incidents, but Costa Rica was unable to take advantage. Their final, best attempt came in the 95th minute, as Bolaños snuck in behind the Serbian defense and received the ball on the six-yard-box.

He wasted his shot, putting the ball over, even as the referee blew for offside, just about summing up Costa Rica’s day.