Costa Rica
The Road to the 2018 FIFA World Cup
‘Los Ticos’ cruised through the first group stage of North, Central America and Caribbean qualification, claiming 16 points out of 18. The second group stage proved tougher, although they claimed 16 points out of a possible 30 and finished in second place behind Mexico, securing an automatic World Cup spot.
The Costa Ricans celebrated their fifth qualification for the World Cup in style, with goalkeeper Keylor Navas shaving off coach Oscar Ramirez’s hair after a dramatic draw with Honduras.
Stars
The team’s main star is its goalkeeper, Keylor Navas. After a string of impressive performances at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Navas secured a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid. Despite criticism from some fans, he still remains the Madrid giant’s number one, and has won the Champions League twice and La Liga once during his time in the Spanish capital.
Another leading ‘Los Ticos’ man is Bryan Ruiz, the 32-year-old captain. He joined English club Fulham in 2011, but since 2015 has been at Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon.
Oskar Duarte (RCD Espanyol) and Celso Borges (Deportivo) play in Spain’s La Liga.
Central defender Giancarlo Gonzalez has been playing in the Italian Serie A for several years, and in the summer of 2017 moved to Bologna from Palermo, who had been relegated to Serie B.
The team has familiar faces in other European leagues, including Celtic’s Cristian Gamboa, operating on the right flank, and Sunderland’s Bryan Oviedo, operating on the left.
Arsenal’s Joel Campbell impressed during the 2014 World Cup, although he has yet to establish himself at the London club. In the summer of 2017 the Gunners loaned him out again – this time to Real Betis, although he has struggled with injury and missed his country’s 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Coach
Despite exceeding expectations at the 2014 World Cup by reaching the knock-out stages, Costa Rican head coach Jorge Luis Pinto didn’t reverse his decision to resign after the tournament. Upon his departure, Paolo Wanchope, a legendary 39-year-old former Costa Rican striker, took over as the national team coach. He managed to win the Copa Centroamericana with “Los Ticos”, but in the summer of 2015 resigned in unusual circumstances: while he was watching his country’s under-23 team play in Panama, he was angered by a refereeing decision, tried to run onto the pitch and eventually got into a fight with a steward. The incident rattled Wanchope so much that he decided to step aside.
That meant ‘Los Ticos’ had to play the remaining qualifying matches under another local manager – Oscar Ramirez. Initially, as a more experienced coach, he was appointed Wanchope’s assistant. He played in the national team with Wanchope, but during his playing career he never appeared abroad. As a coach, Ramirez has also never left Cost Rica, but has won a total of five national championships.
Past Achievements
Russia 2018 will be Costa Rica’s fifth appearance at a Finals, and they surprised many last time out in Brazil. Few expected great things of them after being drawn with Uruguay, England and Italy, but Pinto’s team ended up topping the group. They defeated Uruguay and Italy and drew with England. In the round of 16 they beat Greece on penalties after a 1-1 draw, before falling in the quarter-finals to the Netherlands.
“Los Ticos” also reached the finals in 1990, and managed to get out of a group containing Brazil, Scotland and Sweden – taking second place behind the Brazilians. In the round of 16, Cost Rica lost to Czechoslovakia, 4-1. They failed to reach the finals in 2002 and 2006.