This article is part of the Guardian’s Women’s World Cup 2023 Experts’ Network, a cooperation between a few of the greatest media organisations from the 32 nations who certified. theguardian.com is operating previews from two nations every day within the run-up to the event kicking off on 20 July.
Overview
The Costa Rican nationwide team is producing pleasure and fervour at dwelling as they take part in a Women’s World Cup for less than the second time, and with a technology of gamers thought-about the nation’s greatest thus far. They had an ideal preliminary spherical within the qualifiers, successful all 4 video games, scoring 22 targets, and protecting 4 clear sheets.
In the next 2022 Concacaf W Championship in Mexico, Costa Rica defeated Panama 3-0 then Trinidad and Tobago 4-0. Those victories earned Las Ticas a semi-final spot and whereas that match resulted in defeat by the eventual event winners USA, the last-four end was sufficient to safe qualification for the World Cup.
The team is led by coach Amelia Valverde, who has been in cost since 2015 and has a stable mixture of skilled performers and younger abilities. Key gamers to look at embrace Raquel Rodríguez, Melissa Herrera and Priscila Chinchilla, who’ve persistently made a distinction for the nationwide team. However controversy arose when the previous captain, Shirley Cruz, was overlooked of the pre-World Cup squad regardless of her profitable profession. The 37-year-old Cruz subsequently retired in June.
Valverde places World Cup qualification all the way down to the self-discipline, respect, loyalty and exhausting work of her gamers. “This national team always teaches me something new, it pushes me to improve,” she informed fifa.com. “When facing adversity, the players have always remained close-knit. For us – no matter the external circumstances, the results, people’s comments or anything else – we value the players’ efforts and who they are as individuals above their role as footballers.”
Costa Rica will face Spain, Japan and Zambia in Group C, aiming to enhance on their efficiency in 2015 and make historical past by reaching the knockout stage for the primary time.
The coach
Amelia Valverde, a 36-year-old Costa Rican, is a bodily schooling instructor by occupation and a former participant within the Primera División Femenina. She first joined Costa Rica’s teaching employees throughout qualification for the 2015 World Cup in Canada, unexpectedly taking cost months earlier than the event started on the age of solely 28. After the World Cup, Valverde continued as the top coach, dealing with each triumphs and setbacks, together with lacking out on qualification for the 2019 World Cup in France. However, she and the team bounced again to achieve the 2023 occasion in Australia and New Zealand.
Star participant
Costa Rica’s all-time main scorer, Raquel Rodríguez is a midfielder who has reached the 100-cap milestone and scored 55 targets for the nationwide team. The 29-year-old is a tenacious participant on the sphere and a frontrunner. She was the primary Costa Rican girl to attain in a World Cup.
“In Costa Rica, we don’t have an army, so we always say that the soccer field is like our battlefield, for lack of a better term,” she informed fifa.com. “Fans want to feel proud of what they’re watching, and that’s something we want to give them.”
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Rising star
Alexandra Pinell, a 20-year-old midfielder, first got here to consideration whereas taking part in within the second division in Costa Rica. She is now anticipated to develop into among the finest gamers at her present membership, Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, and is the captain of Costa Rica’s Under-20 team. Pinell scored a memorable 40-yard free-kick in opposition to Australia within the 2022 Under-20 Women’s World Cup. While shy off the sphere, she excels on it, displaying velocity, game-reading expertise and a strong shot.
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Sofía Varela, a ahead for Costa Rica, has skilled two anterior cruciate ligament accidents, one in every leg. But she has by no means misplaced her pleasure for the sport. Varela has tattoos of the Arenal Volcano, situated in her dwelling city of La Fortuna de San Carlos, and the map of Costa Rica. When she scores overseas, she proudly shows them in honour of her beloved nation.
Although not skilled, the ladies’s recreation in Costa Rica has been rising, with report attendances and two tv channels protecting matches within the Costa Rican prime flight. There are 448 registered gamers, making it the most well-liked sport amongst younger Costa Rican ladies, who can now discover a team of their neighbourhood.
Realistic purpose on the World Cup?
They face robust and various opponents in Group C. Costa Rica’s solely earlier World Cup ended with two attracts and one defeat, so they are going to purpose to surpass that, because of a stable teaching basis. Reaching the knockout stage is a concrete goal. “We have very high expectations,” mentioned Rodríguez. “We want to go there and compete. Costa Rica has never advanced past the group stage, so it’s a very specific goal for us.”
The Costa Rica team information was written by Fiorella Montoya for La Nación in Costa Rica.
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