RIO DE JANEIRO (AP):

At this point in the World Cup, the Dutch know plenty about Costa Rica, once one of the surprise packages of the tournament. What they may not have heard is that Costa Rica's Jorge Luis Pinto learned his coaching from the Dutchman who invented 'total football.'

Pinto, a well-travelled Colombian, studied at the University of Cologne early in the 1980s when Dutch coach Rinus Michels was coaching the city's Bundesliga club.

"In those years, I spent my time watching him training and talking to him," Pinto said. "When I didn't have classes, I went to see the club practice. I saw many things and learned a lot."

Michels was a good teacher, a few years later, he would lead the Netherlands to its one and only international title, the 1988 European Championship, having pioneered the 'total football' approach, where players can change their positions during a game.

Now, Pinto aims to stop the Dutch taking another step toward their first world title when his Costa Rica team meets the Netherlands on Saturday in the quarter-finals at Salvador's Arena Fonte Nova.