???In football, elite remains the elite ??? you need more than one player to make a difference at World Cup???

Alexandre Guimaraes has seen Fifa World Cup from close quarters, both as player and coach. At Italia 90, he was part of the Costa Rica squad which made its debut.??Twelve years later, he coached his country at another World Cup. Ahead of the 21^st Football World Cup to be held this month in Russia, Marcus Mergulhao talks tactics with him:

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Since the first time you saw the World Cup as player how much have tactics changed?

Since 1990 rules have changed, and one of the most significant is abolition of the back pass (to the goalkeeper). Since that rule the game has changed overnight, for the better. Rolling the ball back to the goalkeeper by a defender who has run out of ideas is not exciting! It took the world some time to fully understand what this rule had done to football, and it wasn???t until France 1998 that we saw what happens when goalkeepers start using their feet. The World Cup in 1998 was exciting and completely different to the ones in 1990 (Italy) and 1994 (US).

The turn of the century also forced teams to discard the traditional 4-4-2 formation of play and think of something innovative.

Teams have largely employed the 4-2-3-1 with different variations. Brazil played with a different structure — that had an attacking trident — to win the World Cup in 2002. But football changed completely after the 2006 World Cup. It was Spain and their dominance that made the world take notice. They won the Euro twice and the World Cup in 2010 in some style. That was delightful to watch and suddenly the world wanted to play like them. The problem is you need the right players for the right tactics. National team coaches don???t have the time to develop a certain style of play. You don???t have time for innovations.

With so much football played all over the world and a lot of football concepts and processes available to everybody, will a smaller team ever be able to break the hegemony of the elite teams ever???

It???s very difficult. In football, the elite remains the elite. You can see that every four years (at the World Cup), when the quarterfinalists are confirmed, they are more or less the same. Sometimes you have exceptions like Costa Rica (2014) and United States (2002), who are the outsiders. But the elite is very powerful. In short tournaments like the World Cup, it???s very difficult for teams who don???t have a chance to win.

Can it be about individuals? Neymar with Brazil or Lionel Messi with Argentina???

Individuals are always important. But to win a World Cup you need a collective performance. Of course, players like Messi and Neymar can change the course of a game with brilliant individual play. But you need more than that, maybe two or three special players. Argentina depends too heavily on Messi. Brazil, Spain have that potential. I remember our game against Brazil (in 2002): they had Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.

What???s your prediction for this year?

The usual contenders like Brazil, Spain, Germany, France and Argentina will always battle for the top prize. Maybe England can put up a fight, and I hope a team like Colombia can have a good World Cup. They are the ones who almost certainly will flood the quarterfinal line-up.

For a country with a population of just under five million, Costa Rica is highly ranked and does exceedingly well in international football.

Costa Rica???s success started with a plan that was launched in 2000, when the federation understood the importance of scouting young players for national teams and providing them with the best resources. Once they play at youth World Cups, they pick up that experience and it eventually shows at the senior World Cup. A lot of Costa Rica players who are now going to Russia, have played (youth) World Cups before.

The 2002 World Cup was your first major assignment as coach with Costa Rica. What are your memories from that tournament?

Great memories because I had the chance to coach Costa Rica and show the world the way we played. After our debut in 1990, we were again at a World Cup after 12 years. We played very well but didn???t have the necessary luck. Since 2002, Costa Rica has played at every World Cup and that???s a good sign that our football is developing.