Costa Rica national football team

The Costa Rica national football team, nicknamed Los Ticos, is the national team of Costa Rica and is controlled by the Federación Costarricense de Fútbol. They have qualified for three World Cups, reaching the last sixteen on their debut in 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. Recently Los Ticos qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where it was the Costa Ricans' worst World Cup finish ever. The team finished 31st out of 32 teams.

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 Américas, making the quarterfinals on their last two visits.

World Cup record

Year	Finish	Wins	Losses	Draws	Goals Scored	Goals Against
1930 - 1934	Did not enter
1938	Withdrew
1950 - 1954	Did not enter
1958 - 1986	Did not qualify
1990	Round 2	2	2	0	4	6
1994 - 1998	Did not qualify
2002	Round 1	1	1	1	5	6
2006	Round 1	0	3	0	3	9
Total		3	6	1	12	21

Gold Cup record

1991 - Fourth place
1993 - Third place shared
1996 - Did not qualify
1998 - Round 1
2000 - Quarterfinals
2002 - Second place
2003 - Fourth place
2005 - Quarterfinals

Copa América record

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.

1993 to 1995 - Not invited
1997 - Round 1
1999 - Not invited
2001 - Quarterfinals
2004 - Quarterfinals

World Cup games

Italy 1990

Scotland - Costa Rica 0-1
Brazil - Costa Rica 1-0
Costa Rica - Sweden 2-1 (Qualified for 2nd round)
Costa Rica - Czechoslovakia 1-4

Korea - Japan 2002

China - Costa Rica 0-2
Turkey - Costa Rica 1-1
Costa Rica - Brazil 2-5

Germany 2006

Germany - Costa Rica 4-2
Ecuador - Costa Rica 3-0
Costa Rica - Poland 1-2

Other important facts

Only CONCACAF team to ever beat Mexico in the Azteca Stadium, during the World Cup qualifying round (1-2, June 2001)

Only Central American team to qualify to the World Cup tournament consecutively. (2002 and 2006)

Most World Cup tournaments appearances by a CentralAmerican team (#3: Italy 1990, Japan&Korea 2002 and Germany 2006)

First CentralAmerican team to beat a European team in the World Cup (SWE:CRC 1-2, and SCO:CRC 0-1)

In 2002 World Cup, was placed in the initial group of the 1st place (Brazil) and 3rd place (Turkey). The team tied against Turkey and lost against Brazil, however, was the only team in the World Cup to score more than once against Brazil.

2006 World Cup Squad

Costa Rica named a 28-man preliminary squad on 25 April, which was gradually trimmed to the final 23 by 15 May.

2006 World Cup Information

Costa Rica lost their opening game in Group A to hosts Germany. The final score was 4-2. Both Costa Rica's goals came from ex-Derby County striker, Wanchope. Germany goals came from two great strikes by Phillipp Lahm and Torsten Frings, and 2 goals from Miroslav Klose. Costa Rica's second fixture was against Ecuador in Hamburg on June 15th, being defeated with a score of 3-0, effectively getting them out of the cup whilst Germany and Ecuador booked their places in the next round. The team eventually lost their final game against the Poles by a score of two goals to one, the goals coming from Bartosz Bosacki (2) for Poland and Ronald Gomez for Costa Rica.

Historic Players

Selected Current Famous Players

External links

North American national football teams | Football in Costa Rica

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