Martin Gomez twice hung up his telephone thinking he was part of a prank or scam. The third time he took the call, he learned he had won an all-expenses-paid trip to the World Cup and cried tears of joy.
The Costa Rican did not even know he was part of the contest to send a fan to Russia. Gomez was picked at random by the state-owned telephone provider just for being a customer who always pays his monthly bills on time.
During the opening ceremony of his first World Cup, he proudly waved the white-and red-striped Costa Rican flag at the largest square in Europe in the city of Samara, nearly 12,000km from the lush sugarcane hills in his native town of Turrialba.
Photo: AP
“When I sing the national anthem and wave the flag, the tears of joy will fall again,” Gomez said. “And I’m about to fulfill that dream.”
The 52-year-old electrician and 35 other Ticos won the trip and are to be among the thousands of fans at the Samara Arena today, when Costa Rica faces Serbia.
The winners are to then follow the team to St Petersburg, where Costa Rica is to play Brazil on Friday. Then the group would move to Nizhny Novgorod, where Costa Rica is to close the group stage against Switzerland on June 27.
Costa Rica beat all predictions and reached the quarter-finals in Brazil 2014. Along the way, they defeated powerhouses such as England, Italy and Uruguay in the group stage, and were only eliminated after a loss to the Netherlands on a penalty shootout.
The bar is high, but the Ticos and their loyal fans are hoping to repeat the success of the last World Cup.
“We’re here to make history. We hope it can happen again,” Gomez said. “But regardless of how our team performs, we need to support it.”
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