Ok so its FIFA qualifiers again and Costa Rica will receive team USA on Wednesday. But before I start talking about this, let me congratulate Liberia Mia on their first Championship, they beat Herediano with a 3-0 aggregate… it was about time for a ¨small¨ team to win a title.

Next Wedensay will be the fourth fixture for CONCACAF´s qualifiers. It is a win or win situation for Costa Rica in order to keep the dream alive. The Ricardo Saprissa stadium has not been an easy location for the US, the crowd and pressure is intense here. I am expecting a very organized team USA (as usual), it is very hard to break their tactical scheme and they have players in really good leagues around the world. On the other hand, I am expecting an offensive Costa Rica trying to take advantage over free kicks, corner kicks and specially some individualities in the box. Expect long range kicks because Costa Rica´s midfield is plagued with really good long range kickers. Keep and eye on Carlos Hernandez, Walter Centeno, and Bryan Ruiz.

So lets just wait and see… how do you think the game will be?? Any predictions??

I predict a 2-1 win for Costa Rica. Vamos ticos!!!

Liberia has never won a championship, on the other hand, Heredia is one of the ¨Big Four¨ Costarrican teams with lots of history on their shoulders but has not been able to win a championship since 1993.

On march 15th Costa Rica´s U-20 squad became the new CONCACAF Champions by defeating team USA in the finals 3-0. Now the U-20 World Cup in Egypt awaits the Ticos!! Congratulations guys!!!

The qualifiers were held in Trinidad and Tobago. Costa Rica defeated Mexico at the opening match 1-0. Then tied with the home team 1-1, defeated Canada 2-1, beat Honduras (in penalty kicks) and finally won over USA.

The team will be preparing for the World Cup, in the meanwhile they can celebrate all they want!

Nowadays many local teams are planning to change their natural grass for an artificial turf. There are many pros and cons on this subject. As you might know, living in the tropic is very nice, but you get heavy rain in the winter, so the grass gets really mushy and slippery. And when you have 22 players on a wet, swampy pitch it can literally destroy the grass. This is why many teams are considering the artificial turf because rainy days wouldn´t be a problem anymore. The teams that are currently planning to do so are: Santos de Guapiles, Paraiso de Cartago, San Carlos, and Alajuelense (under construction). Brujas FC and Barrio Mexico have an artificial grass surface. Saprissa was the fist team that placed artificlal turf, it was about 5 years ago and it cost around $US 600 000.

Making this change is not cheap at all. But you have to consider which is more expensive, giving maintenance to an always green, no lawn cutting, artificial pitch… or natural grass which depends strictly on the weather, fertilizers, plagues, sunlight etc. I would stick to option A, but there are more things to consider.

Many doctors say that artificial grass can cause more knee injuries. The surface is harder and when a player falls, its knees can get really hurt. A natural surface gives sort of a ¨natural bounce¨. I´m not saying that if you play on a natural pitch, you cant get injuries, but its much more soft. Another thing to consider is that the ball has a strange bounce on an artificial pitch; many players complain about this.

Having an artificial pitch means that your surface can take much more stress, so that means that you can shows, concerts, and many other things that can bring some money in. This is why many teams are considering the change also.

I think that having artificial grass can really help local teams not having to delay or suspend fixtures because of bad weather. But if it was up to me, I would invest in the best drainage systems, instead of changing to an artificial surface.

What do you think??

After coming up second in the last UNCAF’s tourament (which was pathetic by the way…), Costa Rica is now completely focused on the next game against Honduras. This is the first game in the final stage road to the World Cup. But before I start talking about this important subject, maybe you noticed I didnt post anything during the last central amercian tournament. Let me tell you something… you didnt miss much. Most of the participating teams didnt play with their main figures, which lowered everyone’s epectations. Honduras, which was hosting the tournament ended up in 3rd place, Costa Rica second and Panama won the tournament for the first time. Way to go Panama!!! Rodrigo Kenton (Costa Rica’s head coach) scouted some new figures these last few weeks, some of which are now training for the next match. And that is basically it concerning the UNCAF………… ohh…. and El Salvador quit at the semifinal game vs Costa Rica….. shame on them….

Now lets talk about the good stuff. On Febraury the 11th Costa Rica will play vs Honduras. This is an old rivalry that started cooking up years and years ago. What do I expect from this game? What are my predictions? I know Costa Rica will beat Honduras. I know it will be a difficult match because Honduras plays extremely well (specially in San Jose..dont know why). I know for sure that many Honduran players will feel the intense pressure at the Saprissa Stadium and I can bet that it will be a very open match. Honduras has many interesting players, but as a team they just dont seem to add up. Instead, Costa Rica has a very solid squad, and many young figures are starting to take big steps. I am really looking forward for this game, I can feel the win, I can feel the joy and laughter, and I just cant wait for kickoff.

Costa Rica´s head coach (Rodrigo Kenton) has just released the list of 25 players, of which 20 will be playing the UNCAF tournament in Panama. Every Central American nation plays this tournament, where the top 5 teams get a chance to join the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Costa Rica will take part in this tournament with a very different team (some may call it a bench warmers team). The competition does not take place in FIFA official dates, so most of the players who play overseas cant join their national squad.

Costa Rica has won 6 out of 9 UNCAF tournaments, and I think we can wrap this one up easily. Kenton will have a great opportunity to scout some new figures which can be taken into account for the FIFA qualifiers which start in one month.

So the list is the following:
Goalkeepers:
1 Kaylor Navas Gamboa, Saprissa
2 Ricardo González Fonseca, Herediano
3 Patrick Pemberton Bernard, Alajuelense

Defenders:
4 Freddy Fernández Beita, Pérez Zeledón
5 Roberto Segura Conejo, Pérez Zeledón
6 Darío Delgado Mora, Puntarenas FC
7 Michael Umaña Corrales, Liberia Mía
8 Daniel Torres González, Bryne FK (Norway)
9 Carlos Johnson Carpio, Bryne FK (Norway)
10 Leonardo González Arce, Herediano
11 Pablo Herrera Barrantes, Alajuelense
12 Harold Wallace McDonald, Liberia Mía

Midfielders:
13 Jossimar Arias Céspedes, Brujas FC
14 Pablo Brenes Quesada, Brujas FC
15 Paolo Jiménez Coto, Brujas FC
16 Michael Barrantes Rojas, Saprissa
17 Cristian Oviedo Calvo, Alajuelense

Forwards:
18 Oscar Esteban Granados, Cartaginés
19 Alvaro Sánchez Alfaro, San Carlos
20 Steven Calderón Scayle, UCR
21 Victor Nuñez Rodriguez, Liberia Mía
22 Jean Carlos Solorzano Madrigal, Alajuelense
23 Jorge Davies Brown, Ramonense
24 Alejandro Alpizar Delgado, Saprissa
25 Andy Furtado Dixon, Marathon

San Carlos needs to play a very inteligent and low paced game in order to advance to the finals. Alajuelense will probably try to score a quick goal to tie the series and then manage the game with their own fans supporting them. Carlos Castro, Cristian Oviedo, and Giancarlo Gonzalez will not play today for Alajuelense because they all accumulated 5 bookings which lead to a one game suspension. In the first leg, San Carlos showed a very good looking team and they even had the chance to score more goals but lacked in patience and precision, which truduced in a one goal lead. Eventhough the pitch was horrible, (because of the recent rainstorms), both teams held a relatively good match.

On the other hand, the all time favourite and actual champion Saprissa recieves a daring Perez Zeledon. Both teams met on Thursday and Saprissa appeared to be a much stronger and organized team than PZ. Eventhough they were playing as the visiting team, Saprissa had much more ball control and even scored first, but PZ had a strong local support and tied the game.

My predictions today???

There is no doubt, Saprissa will win today, not only because they are playing at home, but because they have a very solid team and I just dont see Perez Zeledon breaking Saprissa’s lines.

On the other match, I will make a risky prediction: Alajuelense will bite the dust; they have a good team but most players lack in experience and San Carlos is now in a tremendous rush.
But who knows… football always finds the way to surprise you.