Costa Rica national football team

Costa Rica

Nickname(s)	Ticos, Tricolor, La Sele (Selección)
Association	Federación Costarricense de Fútbol
Confederation	CONCACAF
Captain	Bryan Ruiz
Most caps	Walter Centeno (137)
Top scorer	Rolando Fonseca (47)
Home stadium	Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto
FIFA code	CRC
FIFA ranking	49
Highest FIFA ranking	17 (May 2003)
Lowest FIFA ranking	93 (July 1996)
Elo ranking	41
Highest Elo ranking	14 (March 1960)
Lowest Elo ranking	81 (March 1983)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Costa Rica 7 - 0 El Salvador  (Guatemala City, Guatemala; 14 September 1921)
Biggest win
Costa Rica 12 - 0 Puerto Rico  (Barranquilla, Colombia; December 10, 1946)
Biggest defeat
Mexico 7 - 0 Costa Rica (Mexico City, Mexico; August 17, 1975)
World Cup
Appearances	3 (First in 1990)
Best result	Round 2, 1990
CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup
Appearances	14 (First in 1963)
Best result	Winners, 1963, 1969, 1989

The Costa Rica national football team, nicknamed La Sele, is the national team of Costa Rica and is controlled by the Federación Costarricense de Fútbol. Costa Rica is the third most successful team in CONCACAF after Mexico and the United States, and the most successful team in Central America having qualified for three World Cups, reaching the last sixteen on their debut in Italy 1990 and putting up a solid showing in 2002 where they had the misfortune to be drawn in the same group as eventual champions Brazil and third-place finishing Turkey. In 2006, Los Ticos qualified for the World Cup in Germany, with their worst World Cup finish ever, finishing 31st out of 32 teams.

Costa Rica have been CONCACAF champions three times (1963, 1969, 1989) and have won the UNCAF Nations Cup six times. The nation has also participated in three Copa América tournaments, making the quarterfinals on their last two visits.

History

Costa Rica has a long-standing football culture and tradition. Throughout the 50s and 60s, and were very much the second strongest team in the CONCACAF zone behind Mexico, finishing runners-up in World Cup qualifying in the 1958, 1962 and 1966 qualifiers. Stars of the side in this period Ruben Jimenez, Errol Daniels, Leonel Hernandez and Edgar Marin. Currently its topscorer is Rolando Fonseca with 47 goals.

However, at the end of the 60s their fortunes would decline as other teams in the region such as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago and Canada came to the fore. Costa Rica failed to make the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying until the 1986 qualifiers.

The 1990 World Cup qualifiers represented a breakthrough. The expulsion of regional powerhouse Mexico from qualifying after they fielded overage players in a youth tournament resulted in a very open field. Costa Rica topped the final qualifying group to qualify for the World Cup for the first time. In the 1990 World Cup they would defeat Sweden and Scotland to reach the second round.

Once again, Costa Rica would reach the final stages of qualifying in the 1998 series, but fell short of qualification for the 1998 World Cup. They have since qualified for the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. In 2002 they were drawn in Group C, with Brazil, Turkey and China. They came 3rd in the group, only losing out to Turkey on goal difference, both on 4 points. In 2006 they were drawn into Group A, with Germany, Poland and Ecuador. Costa Rica played Germany in the opening match of the 2006 Fifa world cup, but they lost 4-2. Their second match, against Ecuador, was a 3-0 defeat. With Poland defeated by Ecuador and Germany and eliminated, Costa Rica played them for the fight for 3rd place. Costa Rica opened the scoring on 25 minutes, but two headers from Poland gave them the 2-1 win. Costa Rica were one of the teams who finished the group stages with zero points.

Coaching staff

Manager

• Rónald González

Assistant Coach

• Vacant

Assistant Coach 2

• Vacant

Head Athletic Trainer

• Vacant

Goalkeeper's Coach

• TBA

Medic

• TBA

Massage Therapist

• TBA

Competitive record

World Cup record Year Round GP W D L GS GA 1930 to 1934 Did not enter 1938 Withdrew 1950 Did not enter 1954 Entry not accepted by FIFA 1958 to 1986 Did not qualify 1990 Round 2 4 2 0 2 4 6 1994 to 1998 Did not qualify 2002 Round 1 3 1 1 1 5 6 2006 Round 1 3 0 0 3 3 9 2010 Did not qualify Total 3/19 10 3 1 6 12 21

CONCACAF Championships record Year Round GP W D L GS GA 1963 Champions 6 5 1 0 14 2 1965 Third Place 5 2 2 1 11 4 1967 Withdrew 1969 Champions 5 4 1 0 13 2 1971 Third Place 5 2 1 2 6 5 1973 to 1981 Did not qualify 1985 Third Place 8 2 5 1 10 8 1989 Champions 8 5 1 2 10 6 1991 Fourth place 5 1 0 4 5 9 1993 Semi-Final 5 1 3 1 6 5 1996 Did not qualify 1998 Round 1 2 1 0 1 8 4 2000 Quarter-Final 3 0 2 1 5 6 2002 Runners-Up 5 3 1 1 8 5 2003 Fourth place 5 2 0 3 10 8 2005 Quarter-Final 4 2 1 1 6 4 2007 Quarter-Final 4 1 1 2 3 4 2009 Semi-Final 5 2 2 1 10 6 Total 3 Titles 75 33 21 21 125 78

2010 World Cup qualifying

Round 4: Hexagonal

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  United States 10 6 2 2 19 13 +6 20  Mexico 10 6 1 3 18 12 +6 19  Honduras 10 5 1 4 17 11 +6 16  Costa Rica 10 5 1 4 15 15 0 16  El Salvador 10 2 2 6 9 15 −6 8  Trinidad and Tobago 10 1 3 6 10 22 −12 6

Costa Rica  – 1–0 2–0 0–3 4–0 3–1 El Salvador  1–0 – 0–1 2–1 2–2 2–2 Honduras  4–0 1–0 – 3–1 4–1 2–3 Mexico  2 –0 4–1 1–0 – 2–1 2–1 Trinidad and Tobago  2–3 1–0 1–1 2–2 – 0–1 United States  2–2 2–1 2–1 2–0 3–0 –

• The United States, Mexico and Honduras qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
• Costa Rica advanced to the CONMEBOL/CONCACAF play-off.

Current Squad

Recent call-ups

Overseas players

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Keylor Navas 15 December 1986 (1986-12-15) (age 24) 20 0 Albacete GK Mauricio Vargas 0 December 1992 (1992-00-00) (age 19) 0 0 Albacete Junior GK Esteban Alvarado 28 April 1989 (1989-04-28) (age 21) 1 0 AZ Alkmaar DF Gilberto Martínez 1 October 1979 (1979-10-01) (age 31) 59 0 Brescia DF Júnior Díaz 12 September 1983 (1983-09-12) (age 27) 40 0 Club Brugge DF Roy Myrie 12 August 1982 (1982-08-12) (age 28) 22 6 Gent DF Carlos Johnson 10 July 1984 (1984-07-10) (age 26) 8 0 Once Caldas DF Dennis Marshall 5 August 1985 (1985-08-05) (age 25) 8 0 Aalborg DF Cristian Gamboa 24 October 1990 (1990-10-24) (age 20) 4 0 Fredrikstad DF Pablo Chinchilla 21 December 1978 (1978-12-21) (age 32) 39 1 LASK Linz DF Roy Miller 24 November 1984 (1984-11-24) (age 26) 15 0 New York Red Bulls DF Gonzalo Segares 13 October 1982 (1982-10-13) (age 28) 17 0 Chicago Fire DF Leonardo González 21 November 1980 (1980-11-21) (age 30) 60 1 Seattle Sounders DF Michael Umaña 16 July 1982 (1982-07-16) (age 28) 41 0 Chivas USA DF Darío Delgado 14 December 1985 (1985-12-14) (age 25) 5 0 Chivas USA DF Rodney Wallace 17 May 1988 (1988-05-17) (age 22) 0 0 D.C. United DF Porfirio López Meza 10 September 1985 (1985-09-10) (age 25) 0 0 Dalian Shide DF Felicio Brown Forbes 28 August 1991 (1991-08-28) (age 19) 0 0 Nürnberg DF Jordan Smith 0 December 1992 (1992-00-00) (age 19) 0 0 Le Havre AC Junior MF Randall Azofeifa 30 December 1984 (1984-12-30) (age 26) 25 1 Gent MF Celso Borges 27 May 1988 (1988-05-27) (age 22) 23 7 Fredrikstad MF Michael Barrantes 4 October 1983 (1983-10-04) (age 27) 20 1 Aalesund MF Pablo Herrera 14 February 1987 (1987-02-14) (age 24) 23 3 Aalesund MF Bryan Oviedo 18 February 1990 (1990-02-18) (age 20) 1 0 FC Copenhagen MF Carlos Hernández 9 April 1982 (1982-04-09) (age 28) 33 7 Melbourne Victory MF Marvin Angulo 30 September 1986 (1986-09-30) (age 24) 2 0 Melbourne Victory MF Óscar Rojas 27 March 1978 (1978-03-27) (age 32) 19 1 Indios MF Rodolfo Rodríguez 27 February 1980 (1980-02-27) (age 30) 9 0 Tianjin Teda F.C. MF Kurt Morsink 27 June 1984 (1984-06-27) (age 26) 0 0 D.C. United FW Bryan Ruiz 18 August 1985 (1985-08-18) (age 25) 36 9 Twente FW Christian Bolaños 17 May 1984 (1984-05-17) (age 26) 33 1 FC Copenhagen FW Álvaro Saborío 25 May 1982 (1982-05-25) (age 28) 60 19 Real Salt Lake FW Winston Parks 12 October 1981 (1981-10-12) (age 29) 28 6 Khazar Lankaran FW Rolando Fonseca 6 June 1974 (1974-06-06) (age 36) 110 47 C.S.D. Comunicaciones FW Andy Herron 2 March 1978 (1978-03-02) (age 32) 17 8 USAC FW Jean Carlos Solórzano 8 January 1988 (1988-01-08) (age 23) 1 0 Brisbane Roar FW Mynor Escoe 6 April 1991 (1991-04-06) (age 19) 0 0 Lorient Junior FW Jonathan McDonald 28 October 1987 (1987-10-28) (age 23) 0 0 Vancouver Whitecaps FW Johnny Woodly Lambert 27 June 1980 (1980-06-27) (age 30) 0 0 Chongqing Lifan

Managers

Name	Period	Country
Randolph Galloway	1946-1948
Vacant	1948-1950
Otto Bumbel	1950-1956
Luis Lucho Tirado	1956-1958
Hugo Tassara Olivares	1958-1960
Eduardo Toba	1960-1961
Alfredo Piedra	1961-1962
Mario Cordero	1962-1965
Eduardo Viso Abella	1965-1971
Humberto Maschio	1971-1975
José Etchegoyen	1975-1980
Antonio Moyano Reyna	1980-1985
Odir Jacques	1985-1987
Gustavo de Simone	1987-1989
Marvin Rodríguez	1989-1990
Bora Milutinovic	1990
Rolando Villalobos	1991-1992
Héctor Núñez	1992
Juan José Gamez	1993
Toribio Rojas	1993-1995
Ignacio Núñez	1995
Valdeir Viera	1996
Horacio Cordero	1997
Juan Luis Hernández Fuertes	1997
Rolando Villalobos	1998
Francisco Maturana	1999
Marvin Rodríguez	1999-2000
Gilson Siqueira Nunes	2000
Alexandre Guimaraes	2001-2002
Rodrigo Kenton	2002
Steve Sampson	2002-2004
Jorge Luis Pinto	2004-2005
Alexandre Guimaraes	2005-2006
Hernán Medford	2006-2008
Rodrigo Kenton	2008-2009
René Simoes	2009
Rónald González Brenes	2009-2010
Ricardo Lavolpe	2010

References

External links

• Costa Rican FA
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers

Preceded by Inaugural Champion	CONCACAF Champions 1963 (First title)	Succeeded by 1965 Mexico
Preceded by 1967 Guatemala	CONCACAF Champions 1969 (Second title)	Succeeded by 1971 Mexico
Preceded by 1985 Canada	CONCACAF Champions 1989 (Third title)	Succeeded by 1991 United States

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