Costa Rica head to World Cup with veterans of 2014

San Jose, May 15: The squad to represent Costa Rica in the 2018 World Cup witnessed very few changes from the unit that reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

“There are players with characteristics for certain moments. The coming friendly matches will be tough and that will be the way to bring the lads toward the intensity we need,” coach Oscar Ramirez told the media on Monday. The core of the roster is the starting 11 from 2014: goalkeeper Keylor Navas; defenders Oscar Duarte, Johnny Acosta, Giancarlo Gonzalez and Cristian Gamboa; midfielders Yeltsin Tejeda, Christian Bolaños, Celso Borges and Bryan Ruiz, and forwards Joel Campbell and Marco Ureña.

Ramirez said he expects the 2018 World Cup, set to begin a month from now in Russia, to be a competition “of much dynamism”.

He pointed to Spain, defending champions Germany, France, Brazil and Argentina as the pre-tournament favourites. IANS