Costa Rica national football team

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Costa Rica

Nickname(s)	Ticos, Tricolor, La Sele (Selección)
Association	Federación Costarricense de Fútbol
Confederation	CONCACAF
Head coach	Rodrigo Kenton
Captain	Walter Centeno
Most caps	Walter Centeno (131)
Top scorer	Rolando Fonseca (47)
Home stadium	Estadio Ricardo Saprissa
FIFA code	CRC
FIFA ranking	30
Highest FIFA ranking	17 (May 2003)
Lowest FIFA ranking	93 (July 1996)
Elo ranking	20
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

Wikinews has related news: Germany wins, 4-2 over Costa Rica in first World Cup match

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.

Contents 1 History 2 Coaching staff 3 Competitive record 3.1 World Cup record 3.2 CONCACAF Championships record 3.3 CCCF Championship results 3.4 UNCAF Nations Cup record 3.5 Copa América record 3.6 Pan American Games record 4 Trivia 5 2010 World Cup qualifying 5.1 Round 4: Hexagonal 6 Current squad 6.1 Recent Callups 7 Managers 8 References 9 External links 10 Titles

[edit] 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.

[edit] Coaching staff

Head Coach

• Rodrigo Kenton

Assistant Coach

• Victorino Quesada

Assistant Coach 2

• Luis Diego Arnáez

Head Athletic Trainer

• Milton Rivas

Goalkeeper's Coach

• Randall Arguedas

Medic

• Dr. Gerardo Artavia

Massage Therapist

• Oscar Segura

[edit] Competitive record

[edit] World Cup record Year Round GP W D* L GS GA 1930 Did not Enter - - - - - - 1934 Did Not Enter - - - - - - 1938 Withdrew - - - - - - 1950 Did Not Enter - - - - - - 1954 Entry not accepted by FIFA - - - - - - 1958 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1962 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1966 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1970 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1974 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1978 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1982 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1986 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1990 Round 2 4 2 0 2 4 6 1994 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1998 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 2002 Round 1 3 1 1 1 5 6 2006 Round 1 3 0 0 3 3 9 Total 3/18 10 3 1 6 12 21 *Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. **Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

[edit] CONCACAF Championships record Year Round GP W D* L GS GA 1963 Champions 3 3 0 0 7 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 4 1973 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1977 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1981 Did Not Qualify - - - - - - 1985 Third Place 4 0 3 1 4 6 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 Final 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 Qualified Total 3 Titles 63 27 16 20 102 69

[edit] CCCF Championship results 1941 - Champions 1943 - Third place 1946 - Champions 1948 - Champions 1951 - Second Place 1953 - Champions 1955 - Champions 1957 - Not disputed 1960 - Champions 1961 - Champions [edit] UNCAF Nations Cup record 1991 - Champions 1993 - Second place 1995 - Fourth place 1997 - Champions 1999 - Champions 2001 - Second place 2003 - Champions 2005 - Champions 2007 - Champions 2009 - Second place

[edit] Copa América record 1997 - Round 1 2001 - Quarterfinals 2004 - Quarterfinals [edit] Pan American Games record 1951 - Second Place 1955 - Did not participate 1959 - Fifth place 1963 - Did not participate 1967 - Did not participate 1971 - Did not participate 1975 - Fourth place 1979 - Round 2 1983 - Did not participate 1987 - Did not participate 1991 - Did not participate 1995 - Quarterfinals 1999 - Round 1 2003 - Did not participate 2007 - Round 1

[edit] Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2008)

• Costa Rica is the only Central American team to qualify to consecutive FIFA World Cup tournaments, in 2002 and 2006;
• Costa Rica holds the record for most participations to World Cup tournaments by a Central American team, with three. (Italy 1990, Japan and Korea 2002 and Germany 2006)
• Costa Rica was the first (and so far the only) Central American team to beat two European teams in the same FIFA World Cup tournament (Costa Rica 1 - Scotland 0, Sweden 1 - Costa Rica 2, Italy '90).
• Costa Rica is the only Central American team with victories in FIFA World Cup games (three in three presentations, two came in Italy 1990 and one in Korea and Japan 2002). None of the other Central American teams that have made it to the World Cup (Honduras and El Salvador) have managed to get a victory during their FIFA World Cup presentations.
• Costa Rica is the only Central American team to ever reach the knock-out stage of a World Cup achieved after eliminating Sweden. They are one of the four teams ever from CONCACAF to reach the second round (after United States, Cuba, and Mexico).
• For the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Costa Rica was placed in group C, along Brazil (eventual world champion) and Turkey (eventual third place winner). The team tied against Turkey and lost 2-5 against Brazil, however, was the only team in the World Cup to score more than once against Brazil and has been the only team to score more than one goal against Brazil since Brazil lost to France 0-3 in the 1998 final.
• Costa Rica achieved their historic 1000th career goal (Rolando Fonseca) in the 1:1 draw against Chile, in an international friendly, at the Fiscal Stadium in Talca sharing the record only with México on the region.

[edit] 2010 World Cup qualifying

[edit] Round 4: Hexagonal

Team v • d • e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Costa Rica 5 4 0 1 9 5 +4 12  United States 5 3 1 1 10 6 +4 10  Honduras 5 2 1 2 6 6 0 7  Mexico 5 2 0 3 6 8 −2 6  El Salvador 5 1 2 2 6 7 −1 5  Trinidad and Tobago 5 0 2 3 6 11 −5 2

Costa Rica  – 1–0 2–0 5 Sep 10 Oct 3–1 El Salvador  9 Sep – 14 Oct 2–1 2–2 2–2 Honduras  12 Aug 1–0 – 3–1 5 Sep 10 Oct Mexico  2–0 10 Oct 9 Sep – 2–1 12 Aug Trinidad and Tobago  2–3 12 Aug 1–1 14 Oct – 9 Sep United States  14 Oct 5 Sep 2–1 2–0 3–0 –

[edit] Current squad

The following players have been selected for the 23-man squad for the 2009 Gold Cup.^[1] Caps and goals are current as of June 27, 2009.^[2]

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Keylor Navas 15 December 1986 (1986-12-15) (age 22) 7 0 Saprissa 18 GK Ricardo González 6 March 1974 (1974-03-06) (age 35) 37 0 CS Herediano — GK Daniel Cambronero 8 January 1986 (1986-01-08) (age 23) 1 0 Universidad de Costa Rica 2 DF Darío Delgado 14 December 1985 (1985-12-14) (age 23) 1 0 Puntarenas 3 DF Freddy Fernández 25 February 1974 (1974-02-25) (age 35) 18 1 Pérez Zeledón 12 DF Leonardo González 21 November 1980 (1980-11-21) (age 28) 59 1 Seattle Sounders FC 13 DF Gonzalo Segares 13 October 1982 (1982-10-13) (age 26) 11 0 Chicago Fire 15 DF Harold Wallace 7 September 1975 (1975-09-07) (age 33) 91 3 Liberia 16 DF Esteban Sirias 3 October 1980 (1980-10-03) (age 28) 3 0 Liberia 17 DF Pablo Herrera 14 February 1987 (1987-02-14) (age 22) 12 2 L.D. Alajuelense 20 DF Dennis Marshall 8 September 1985 (1985-09-08) (age 23) 1 0 CS Herediano — DF Michael Umaña 16 July 1982 (1982-07-16) (age 26) 38 0 Liberia 5 MF Celso Borges 27 August 1988 (1988-08-27) (age 20) 12 5 Fredrikstad 10 MF Walter Centeno 6 October 1974 (1974-10-06) (age 34) 131 22 Saprissa 14 MF Armando Alonso 21 March 1984 (1984-03-21) (age 25) 12 3 Saprissa 19 MF Warren Granados 6 December 1981 (1981-12-06) (age 27) 1 1 San Ramon 22 MF Josimar Arias 24 September 1986 (1986-09-24) (age 22) 1 0 Brujas — MF Cristian Oviedo 25 August 1978 (1978-08-25) (age 30) 6 0 L.D. Alajuelense — MF Esteban Granados 25 October 1985 (1985-10-25) (age 23) 1 0 Cartaginés — MF Christian Bolaños 17 May 1984 (1984-05-17) (age 25) 25 1 IK Start 9 FW Álvaro Saborío 25 March 1982 (1982-03-25) (age 27) 47 14 Sion 11 FW Andy Herron 2 March 1978 (1978-03-02) (age 31) 19 5 CS Herediano 21 FW Froylán Ledezma 2 January 1978 (1978-01-02) (age 31) 8 3 VfB Admira Wacker Mödling — FW Pablo Brenes 4 August 1982 (1982-08-04) (age 26) 8 0 Brujas — FW Andy Furtado 3 January 1980 (1980-01-03) (age 29) 42 13 Marathón

[edit] Recent Callups

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club — DF Júnior Díaz 12 September 1983 (1983-09-12) (age 25) 31 1 Wisła Kraków — DF Roy Myrie 21 August 1982 (1982-08-21) (age 26) 19 6 Gent — DF Carlos Johnson 10 July 1984 (1984-07-10) (age 25) 7 0 Red Bull New York — DF Gilberto Martínez 1 October 1979 (1979-10-01) (age 29) 57 0 Brescia — MF Carlos Hernández 9 April 1982 (1982-04-09) (age 27) 29 6 Melbourne Victory — FW Bryan Ruiz 18 August 1985 (1985-08-18) (age 23) 27 7 Gent — FW William Sunsing 12 May 1977 (1977-05-12) (age 32) 33 4 Liberia — FW Johnny Woodly 27 July 1980 (1980-07-27) (age 28) 0 0 Chongqing Lifan — FW Winston Parks 21 October 1981 (1981-10-21) (age 27) 20 5 Timişoara

[edit] Managers

• [1]

Name	Period	Country
Luis Lucho Tirado	1956
Humberto Maschio	1972
Eduardo Viso Abella	1967
Odir Jacques	1985
Gustavo De Simone	1987-1989
Antonio Moyano Reina	1989
Bora Milutinović	1990
Rolando Villalobos	1991-1992
Juan Jose Gamez	1993
Toribio Rojas	1993-1995
Valdeir Vieira	1996
Horacio Cordero	1997
Juan Luis Hernadez Fuertes	1997
Rolando Villalobos	1998
Francisco Maturana	1999
Marvin Rodriguez	1999-2000
Gilson Nunez	2000
Alexandre Guimarães	2001-2002
Rodrigo Kenton	2002
Steve Sampson	2003-2004
Jorge Luis Pinto	2004-2005
Alexandre Guimarães	2005-2006
Hernán Medford	2006-2008
Rodrigo Kenton	2008-

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Costa Rican FA

[edit] Titles

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

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