2022 World Cup Team Profile: Costa Rica

Costa Rica National Team (Instagram @fedefutbolcrcl)

JAKARTA - Costa Rica is the most successful national football team in the history of the Central America region. The team won three CONCACAF Championships (1963, 1969, 1989) and led the Copa Centroamericana tournament with four championships until 2017, when it was absorbed into the CONCACAF Nations League.

Costa Rica is the only national team in Central America to have played in five editions of the FIFA World Cup. The Costa Rica national football team has the highest all-time average Football Elo Rating in Central America with 1597.1, and the all-time highest Elo Football Rating in Central America, with 1806 in 2014.

Profile overview

Team Name: Costa Rica National Football Team Nicknames: Los Ticos (The Ticos), La Sele (The Selection), La Tricolor (The Tricolor) Association: Federación Costarricense de Fútbol (FCRF) Confederation: CONCACAF (North America) Sub-confederation : UNCAF (Central America) Head coach: Luis Fernando Suarez Captain: Bryan Ruiz Most caps: Celso Borges (153) Top scorer: Rolando Fonseca (47) Home stadium: Estadio Nacional FIFA code: CRC FIFA Rankings

Based on the FIFA rankings as of June 2022, Costa Rica occupies the 34th position, above Russia and below Austria with 1500.06 points.

A brief History

The Costa Rica national team debuted at the Independence Centenary Games held in Guatemala City in September 1921, winning their first game 7–0 against El Salvador. In the final, Costa Rica beat Guatemala 6-0 to claim the trophy.

The Costa Rican team in the late 1940s earned the nickname "The Gold Shorties". Throughout the 50s and 60s, they were the second strongest team in the CONCACAF zone behind Mexico, finishing runners-up in World Cup qualifiers in the 1958, 1962 and 1966 qualifiers. Team stars during this period included Ruben Jimenez, Errol Daniels, Leonel Hernandez and Edgar Marin. However, Costa Rica was unable to capitalize on this advantage, thus failing to reach the World Cup that decade.

In the late 1960s their prowess declined as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago and Canada rose to prominence.

Costa Rica failed to qualify for any of the World Cups in the 1970s and 1980s, and did not reach the final CONCACAF qualifying round until the 1986 qualifiers.

They participated in two consecutive Summer Olympics, in Moscow 1980 and in Los Angeles 1984. In 1980, Costa Rica competed against Yugoslavia, Finland and Iraq in Group D, losing 2-3, 0-3 and 0-3 respectively. respectively. In Los Angeles, the Ticos lost 0-3 against the United States, and 1-4 against Egypt, but beat an Italian side featuring Walter Zenga, Pietro Vierchowod, Franco Baresi and Aldo Serena, 1-0 through midfielder Enrique Rivers' goal.

Costa Rica at the World Cup

Since the late 1980s, the Costa Rican national team has continued to be seen as a highly competitive team, with a standout appearance at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, reaching the knockout stages on their debut after finishing second in the group stage during the first phase, behind Brazil. They also qualified for the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups.

In 2014, Costa Rica achieved their best ever form in history by finishing first in their group of three former World Cup winners: Uruguay, Italy and England. In the round of 16 they beat Greece 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. In that match, Keylor Navas saved more than 15 shots. They reached the quarter-finals for the first time but were beaten by the Netherlands, also on penalties (3–4) after a goalless draw on 5 July.

Meanwhile, their 2018 World Cup campaign ended in elimination in fourth place of the group stage, with their only point coming from a 2-2 draw against Switzerland.

Costa Rica at the 2022 World Cup

Costa Rica became the last country confirmed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Tickets to the finals which were held in Qatar were won after beating New Zealand in the playoffs, June 14.

In the match which was held at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Doha, Costa Rica won with a narrow score of 1-0. Joel Campbell scored the only goal for the Central American team in the 3rd minute.

Chris Wood actually scored the equalizer in the 39th minute. However, the goal was disallowed after the referee, Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed, saw a replay by VAR.

In the footage, one of the New Zealand players, Matt Garbett, had a foul on Oscar Duarte before the goal occurred.

When trying to catch up, New Zealand has experienced disaster. Their player who just came on in the 60th minute, Kosta Barbarouses, got a red card in the 65th minute.

Until the end of the game, no additional goals were created. Costa Rica also followed Australia, which the day before won the 13th ticket to the 2022 World Cup.

In Qatar, Costa Rica are in Group E along with Spain, Germany and Japan. Here is the schedule for their group stage matches:

Wednesday, 23 November 2022 Spain vs Costa Rica: 20.00 WIB Germany vs Japan: 23.00 WIB Sunday, 27 November 2022 Japan vs Costa Rica: 17:00 WIB Monday, 28 November 2022 Spain vs Germany: 02.00 WIB Friday, 2 December 2022 Japan vs Spain: 02.00 WIB Costa Rica vs Germany: 02.00 WIB The provisional squad for the 2022 World Cup

Goalkeeper

Keylor Navas Aaron Cruz Leonel Moreira

defender

Juan Pablo Vargas Keysher Fuller scar Duarte Bryan Oviedo Francisco Calvo Ian Lawrence Kendall Waston Daniel Chacón Carlos Martínez

Midfielder

Carlos Mora Celso Borges Jewison Bennette Bryan Ruiz Rica Alajuelense Gerson Torres Orlando Galo Yeltsin Tejeda Brandon Aguilera

Striker

Anthony Contreras Johan Venegas Joel Campbell Trainer

Luis Fernando Suárez Guzmán (born 23 December 1959) is a Colombian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the current manager of the Costa Rica national football team.

Suárez has coached in six Latin American countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Mexico and Costa Rica.

Suárez led the Ecuador national football team to the last 16 at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and won the 1999 Colombian championship with Atlético Nacional. In 2005, he led Ecuador to a second consecutive World Cup. He has enjoyed hero status in Ecuador and Colombia, leading Ecuador to their best ever form at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Reached the second round by defeating Poland and Costa Rica, but lost to England 0-1 by a David Beckham free kick.

Suárez was offered to continue coaching the Ecuadorian national team until the next World Cup in 2010. After a poor 2007 Copa América, many fans demanded that he step down. However, Suárez stated that he would not resign and would improve the performance of his team. Suárez started with the worst possible 2010 World Cup qualifiers, losing 0-1 at home to Venezuela and thrashed Brazil 5-0. After a crushing 1-5 defeat to Paraguay, he resigned from his position as head coach, soon after the end of the match.

In October 2009 he signed with Juan Aurich, Peru football team. Then moved to the Honduras national team (2011-2014), Universitario (2015), Dorados de Sinaloa (2015–2016), La Equidad (2017–2018), Junior (2018–2019), Atlético Bucaramanga (2021) before finally anchoring in the national team Costa Rica has since last year replaced Rónald González.

Team captain

Bryan Ruiz made his debut for Costa Rica against China on 19 June 2005. He has represented the Ticos in the 2005, 2011 and 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cups, captaining the team in the last tournament. The player's first international goal as an attacking midfielder and second striker came against Honduras in the 2005 tournament.

Ruiz scored six goals during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, as Costa Rica were eliminated by Uruguay in the intercontinental play-offs. In the 2014 qualifiers, he scored three goals to lead the team to the final of the tournament in Brazil.

In June 2014, Ruiz was named in the Costa Rica squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In the team's opening match, he captained Los Ticos as they beat Uruguay 3-1 in Fortaleza. On 20 June, Ruiz scored the only goal as Costa Rica beat four times champions Italy 1–0 to qualify for the last 16, where he scored again in their 1–1 draw with Greece. Ruiz then converted his shot as Costa Rica won 5-3 on penalties. In the quarter-finals, Ruiz was one of two Costa Rican players whose shot was saved by Tim Krul in the 4-3 penalty shoot-out loss to the Netherlands.

In May 2018, he was named in Costa Rica's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. In the last group stage match against Switzerland, he scored a last-minute equalizer from the penalty spot in a 2-2 draw; However, the goal was credited as an own goal by Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer.

CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup Trophy: 1963, 1969, 1989 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament: 1980, 1984 Copa Centroamericana: 1991, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2014 CCCF Championship: 1941, 1946, 1948, 1953, 1955 , 1960, 1961 Facts Costa Rica is the first (and so far only) Central American football team to win a match in a FIFA World Cup tournament. Costa Rica finished in first place in the 1990 and 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying finals, the latter being the best group record in CONCACAF hexagonal history (23 points). Costa Rica (in 2014) are one of only two Central American or Caribbean teams (along with Cuba in 1938) to have reached the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup.