Marvin Rodríguez

Marvin Rodríguez Ramírez (born 26 November 1934) is a Costa Rican football coach and former striker. He coached the Costa Rican national team to its first World Cup participation in 1990.

Career

Rodríguez was a local star playing for Deportivo Saprissa back in the 1950s and 1960s. He was part of the Saprissa team that went on a world tour in 1959, becoming the first Latin American team to do such a trip. He also played for CSD Municipal of Guatemala between 1961 and 1964.

In addition to his club career, Rodríguez made 43 playing appearances for the Costa Rica national football team.^[1] In the 1950s, he was part of the team known as Chaparritos de Oro, which against all odds won a silver medal at the Pan-American Games held in Buenos Aires.

As a coach, Rodríguez managed his former playing club 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 that he had won previously with the team as a player. In 1988, he coached Costa Rica's national squad, guiding the team to its first World Cup qualification.

In spite of such success, he did not coach the team during the 1990 World Cup finals, as Bora Milutinovic was assigned that duty by the Costa Rican Football Federation. Later, Rodríguez coached CSD Municipal and Xelajú MC in Guatemala, winning the national league title with each team as well.

References