The Central Americans played some flowing football at the 2002 finals and were unlucky to be eliminated in the first round as they lost out on goal difference to eventual semi-finalists Turkey.

Their 5-2 loss to Brazil, in which they trailed 3-0 and then fought back to 3-2, was arguably the most open game of all-out attacking football in the tournament.

Guimaraes, who was also in charge four years ago, says the new-look team are tougher and more mature than in South Korea and Japan, when they were considered a soft touch.

"Before, Costa Rica were a fair-play team, naive and just interested in attacking," he said. "This time, everybody's going to notice the difference."

Guimaraes is optimistic that his team can at least emulate their debut performance in 1990, when they reached the last 16 after chalking up shock wins over Scotland and Sweden.

This time, they again face two European opponents who could also be considered vulnerable -- Poland and beleaguered hosts Germany -- as well as South Americans Ecuador, who they have played three times since the last World Cup, drawing twice and losing once.

Costa Rica struggled through the qualifying competition, using three coaches and making sure of their place only with a good finish under Guimaraes.

Steve Sampson was fired after they scraped past Cuba on away goals in the preliminary round and Colombia's Jorge Luis Pinto went after an insipid goalless draw away to Trinidad & Tobago in the final stage.

They did, at least, show excellent fighting spirit in the qualifiers as they won two crucial home ties with last-minute goals.

Most of the squad are drawn from three clubs -- Herediano, Alajuelense and Saprissa -- with only a handful of players based abroad.

Several players, including striker Paulo Wanchope, returned to play for clubs at home at the start of the year believing that they stood more chance of getting noticed by the coach.

Wanchope, their all-time leading scorer with 43 goals including eight in the qualifiers, still leads the attack but looks less sharp that four years ago.

He has just returned home to play for Herediano after a six-month spell in Qatar. Before that, he had a topsy-turvy time in Spain with Malaga, alternating superb goals with prolonged spells on the bench.

Other 2002 survivors include defenders Harold Wallace, Luis Marin and Gilberto Martinez, midfield playmaker Walter Centeno and forward Ronald Gomez.

Newcomers include striker Alvaro Saborio and midfielder Carlos Hernandez, who has scored some spectacular goals from long range.