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Los Ticos
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Federación Costarricense<br/>de Fútbol
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Alexandre Guimaraes , 2005 -
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Luis Marín (116)
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Paulo Wanchope (43)
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Costa Rica 7 - 0 El Salvador <br>( Guatemala City , Guatemala Sept 14 , 1921 )
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Costa Rica 12 - 0 Puerto Rico <br>( Barranquilla , Colombia December 10 , 1946 )
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Mexico 7 - 0 Costa Rica<br>( Mexico City , Mexico August 17 , 1975 )<br> Mexico 7 - 0 Costa Rica<br>( Mexico City , Mexico October 23 , 1975 )
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3
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1990
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Round 2, 1990
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CONCACAF Gold Cup
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7
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1991
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The , nicknamed ''Los Ticos'', is the national team of
Costa Rica and is controlled by the
Federación Costarricense De Fútbol . They made three
World Cups , including an improbable run to the
1990 World Cup second round under coach
Bora Milutinovic , and a solid showing in the
2002 World Cup in which they had the misfortune to be seeded in group play with eventual champions
Brazil and third-place finishing
Turkey . Recently ''Los Ticos'' qualified to the 2006 Germany World Cup.
Costa Rica's best finish in the
CONCACAF Gold Cup was second in
2002 . They won the
UNCAF Nations Cup five times. Recently, Costa Rica have been invited to participate in three
Copa América s, making the quarterfinals on their last two visits.
- 1991 - Fourth place
- 1993 - Third place shared
- 1996 - ''Did not qualify''
- 1998 - Round 1
- 2000 - Quarterfinals
- 2002 - Second place
- 2003 - Fourth place
- 2005 - Quarterfinals
Starting from 1993,
CONMEBOL has invited teams from other confederations to participate in their confederation championship,
Copa América . Costa Rica has taken part as one of the invited teams three times.
''"Few Costaricans will ever forget this world cup."''
Scotland - Costa Rica
The build up to this game was a combination of hope and fear. Costa Rica was well aware that Scotland was qualifying for their 5th consecutive World cup and a contender in its own right. Scotland had famous premiership players and height, two factors absent from the Costarican squad.
As the game progressed, the first hero of the Costarican squad was born: the goalkeeper,
Gabelo Conejo . With cat-like reflexes and a clear command of the penalty box, he stopped Scotlands first half charge.
Costa Rica went into half time with a sense of accomplishment and returned to the second half with a spark of confidence. In the 49th minute, the midfielder
Hector Marchena charged into the penalty box and passed the ball to
Claudio Jara . In a moment of brilliance, he heel-kicked the ball behind him, leaving the Scotish defense out of reach. The ball rolled over to
Juan Cayasso , and without losing his nerve, he kicked the ball over the diving goalkeeper.
Scotland increased their pressure for the remainder of the game, but were stopped by a strong Costarican defense and Conejo's uncanny saves. As the referee blew the final whistle, Costa Rica had achieved the first win by an American team in a Europe-held World Cup.
The country erupted in joy.
Brazil - Costa Rica
Spirits were high after the win against Scotland, and many Costaricans were hopeful of meeting Brazil and some even believed we could surprise the former world champions.
However,
Velibor Milutinovic , Costa Rica's coach had other ideas. Well aware that his squad was the clear underdog he decided to use a conservative and defensive pattern all through the game. On the 33 minute, the powerful midfielder
Müller , made a long shot from the right side of the penalty box. The ball sneaked by
Conejo , but just after being deflected by the Costarican defender
Mauricio Montero . This was an unlucky event for Montero, that during the elimination round had missed a crutial penalty against the USA and had been close to costing the team the qualification; evenmore, the ball was deflected by hitting him on the buttocks, so it was apt for satire by most Costaricans. The whole matter was a bitter pill for the humble Costarican defender. However, during the game he proceded to vindicate himself by playing with zeal and helping stop the Brazilian offense.
When the game finished the score remained 1-0 and Costa Rica had lost by only one "lucky" goal.
Costa Rica - Sweden
After the loss to Brazil, Costa Rica went into the match against Sweden with hopes of acomplishing something, but well aware that Sweden had a long tradition of going far in world cups.
As the game progressed, the Costarican team found itself huddled in its own area fending of the attacks of the desperate Swedish team that hoped to leave the World Cup with some dignity, after losing its two previous games. In the 32nd minute,
Ekström finally scored for Sweden and sent Costa Rica into half time, with low spirits.
Also, during the first half something happened that most Costaricans believe changed the fate of the teams success in the World Cup. The goalie, and hero of the campaign,
Gabelo Conejo , was injured after a rough play by a Swedish striker. Conejo continued for the rest of the game, but would be sidelined if the team continued to the next round.
The second half started off with both teams continuing their first-half strategy. But as the game progressed, the Costarican team found itself on the offensive more and more. Many Costaricans, attribute the change in the game to the apparent fatigue of the Swedish players and by the end of the match, there was an obvoius change. In the 75th minute, there was a free kick awarded to Costa Rica on the left side of the Swedish penalthy box. From the ensuing play, the squad captain
Roger Flores , headed in the ball for the equalizing goal.
The team seemed to obtain renewed strength from this goal and increased the attacks, while the Swedish team seemed to want to finish the game in a tie. In the 88th minute, the Swedish goalkeeper kicked a long ball out into the midfield, but
Alexander Guimaraes headed the ball back into open field and a race broke out between
Hernan Medford and the Swedish defense. Medford, an extremely fast player, outran the tired Sweddish defense and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. With a small hesitation, he kicked a gound ball just out of the goalkeepers reach and the ball rolled into the lower-right corner of the goal, brushing the goalpost as it entered.
The goal is one of Costa Rica's fondest memories and still haunts some Swedish fans to this day.
The game ended 2-1, and Costaricans could not believe they had qualified to the next round in second place.
Costa Rica - Czechoslovakia
After qualifying to the next round Costarican spirits were high, and the possibility of winning the match was not far-fetched. However, Costaricans all new that the hero of the campaign, the goalkeeper,
Gabelo Conejo , was injured and was not going to play. His substitute,
Hermidio Barrantes was brought in to face the fierce Czech offense.
The game started out with a quick goal in the 12th minute by
Thomáš Skuhravý , quickly reminding the Costarican team that they were the underdogs. However most fans, hoped for a similitude to the Sweden game, where the team started the game losing and then went on to win.
Half-time arrived, and most fans were sure the team could come back from the 1-0 score, and in the 54th minute, the young defender,
Ronald Gonzalez did just that. In a very similar play to the goal scored by
Roger Flores , Gonzalez headed in a free kick over the heads of the tall Czech defense.
The team was in the middle of a possible comeback when in the 63rd minute, again
Skuhravý put the Czechs ahead. From then on any further possibility of a comeback was gone when in the 75th minute
Luboš Kubík scored and made the game 3-1.
Skuhravý got his hat-trick in the 82nd minute and put an end to Costa Ricas dreams.
For Costa Rica it was a very painful loss, because most blamed the Goalkeeper
Barrantes , and believed that if
Gabelo Conejo would have been playing, the score would have been different. However, most Costaricans eventually accepted that eventhough
Barrantes did make some mistakes, he also made some incredible saves.
bench
