Marvin Rodríguez

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Marvin Rodríguez is among Costa Rica's best soccer players and coaches, remembered in his country most of all for being the coach that guided Costa Rican national team to their first World Cup.

Rodríguez was a local star playing for Deportivo Saprissa back in the 1950s and early 1960s. He was part of the Saprissa's team that went on a world tour during 1959, becoming the first Latin American team to do such a trip. He played for his national team as well, being part of the famous Chaparritos de Oro team back in the 1950s, which against all odds won a silver medal at the Pan-American Games held at Buenos Aires.

As a coach, he managed his beloved Deportivo Saprissa during different stints in the 1970s and early 1980s. He won four national championships coaching Saprissa in the 1970s, to add to the several championships he had won previously with the team as a player. In 1988, he coached the Costa Rica's national squad, guiding them to their first World Cup qualification. In spite of such a victory, he didn't coach the team during the 1990 FIFA World Cup, as Bora Milutinovic was assigned for that duty by Costa Rica's Soccer Federation. He also went on to coach CSD Municipal and CSD Xelajú in Guatemala, winning the Guatemalan tournaments with each team as well.