The Costa Rica National Team Aspires to 3rd Consecutive Appearance at FIFA World Cup.

From the workplace to bars, Puerto Viejo to Tamarindo, football is a hot topic on the shores of Costa Rica and next Wednesday the national team, affectionately known as La Sele (Selección Nacional) head to El Salvador for their final match of the third round of qualifiers for FIFA World Cup 2010.

Costa Rica has already progressed to the 4th round as has El Salvador yet such is the intensity of the rivalry between the two teams that the chances of either team taking their ‘foot off the gas’ is unlikely.

The last game between the two nations was played back in August when a penalty from Alvaro Saborio was enough to guide Costa Rica to victory on home soil. The game was surrounded with problems after the Costa Rican Soccer Federation allowed for just 500 Salvadoreans to Travel to Costa Rica to watch the game for fears of safety after violent Mara gangs were thought to be attempting to enter the country. This time a similar scenario is in place with the Costa Rican players expecting a hostile environment, however midfielder Jose Luis Lopez is said to be relishing the challenge in front of the 30,000 strong crowd stating that ‘it is good to play in such an atmosphere’.

Qualifying to the next round isn’t the only thing Tico’s have to celebrate about; the latest FIFA rankings placed Costa Rica in 57th position, a 12 place rise from beforehand which makes them the 4th best team in the CONCACAF region behind the U.S.A, Mexico and Honduras. This is thanks to some memorable victories against Haiti and Suriname which the national team will be looking to build on in order to take them to Africa in two years. If they succeed it will be the 3rd consecutive time that Costa Rica has made it to the finals, a feat that no other Central American team has ever achieved.

Seeing that the Costa Rican team is currently lacking a national stadium due to planning difficulties in San Jose, this achievement seems even more remarkable.

Followers of the beautiful game will be hoping that manager Rodrigo Kenton can recreate the success of Italy 1990 where the Tico team famously beat Sweden and Scotland before being graciously eliminated in the 2nd round to Czechoslovakia. This remains Costa Rica’s best performance in a World Cup to date something they will be looking to recreate in 2010.

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Filed under: Sports on November 14th, 2008