| Germany 2006: |
| COSTA RICA |
 |
|
| KEY FACTS |
| World Ranking |
| 19th |
| COSTA RICA NEWS |
| Costa Rica looked like a team that would never reach the final stage at the start as they only managed to scrape past Cuba on away goals. Two losses started the next stage but they managed to sneak 1st place based on head-to-head against Guatemala. The final stage was a mixture of emotions. Losing only to the US and Mexico, an emphatic 3-0 win over the USA sealed qualification as third in CONCACAF. Paulo Wanchope will be wanting a good World Cup as he plans to retire from international football. He's already on a high as Costa Rica's top scorer so far with eight in qualifying. |
| Qualifying Group Position |
| Won 3-3 on away goals 1st 3rd |
| Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 |
| Top Scorers |
| 8 Goals |
| QUALIFYING |
| 2-2 |
| Cuba |
| Drew |
| 12-Jun-04 |
| 1-1 |
| Cuba |
| Drew |
| 20-Jun-04 |
| 2-5 |
| Honduras |
| Lost To |
| 18-Aug-04 |
| 1-2 |
| Guatemala |
| Lost To |
| 05-Sep-04 |
| 1-0 |
| Canada |
| Dft |
| 08-Sep-04 |
| 5-0 |
| Guatemala |
| Dft |
| 09-Oct-04 |
| 3-1 |
| Canada |
| Dft |
| 13-Oct-04 |
| 0-0 |
| Honduras |
| Drew |
| 17-Nov-04 |
| 1-2 |
| Lost To |
| 09-Feb-05 |
| 1-2 |
| Panama |
| Dft |
| 26-Mar-05 |
| Paulo Wanchope |
| 0-0 |
| Trinidad and Tobago |
| Drew |
| 30-Mar-05 |
| 0-3 |
| Lost To |
| 04-Jun-05 |
| 3-2 |
| Guatemala |
| Dft |
| 08-Jun-05 |
| 0-2 |
| Lost To |
| 17-Aug-05 |
| 3-1 |
| Panama |
| Dft |
| 03-Sep-05 |
| 2-0 |
| Trinidad and Tobago |
| Dft |
| 07-Sep-05 |
| 3-0 |
| Dft |
| 08-Oct-05 |
| 1-3 |
| Guatemala |
| Lost To |
| 12-Oct-05 |
 |
 |
| Appearances (Champions in bold) |
| 1990, 2002, 2006 |
| COSTA RICA'S WORLD CUP HISTORY |
| SQUAD (club in brackets) |
| Goalkeepers |
| Wardy Alfaro (Alajuelense, Costa Rica) |
| Alvaro Mesen (Herediano, Costa Rica) |
| Defenders |
| Gabriel Badilla (Saprissa, Costa Rica) |
| Leonardo Gonzalez (Herediano, Costa Rica) |
| Luis Marin (Alajuelense, Costa Rica) |
| Gilberto Martinez (Brescia, Italy) |
| Michael Rodriguez (Alajuelense, Costa Rica) |
| Harold Wallace (Alajuelense, Costa Rica) |
| Midfielders |
| Randall Azofeifa (Saprissa, Costa Rica) |
| Christian Bolanos (Saprissa, Costa Rica) |
| Forwards |
| Kurt Bernard (Puntarenas FC, Costa Rica) |
| Ronald Gomez (Saprissa, Costa Rica) |
| Victor Nunez (CS Cartagines, Costa Rica) |
| Alvaro Saborio (Saprissa, Costa Rica) |
| Jose Porras (Saprissa, Costa Rica) |
| Paulo Wanchope (Herediano, Costa Rica) |
| Douglas Sequeira (Real Salt Lake City, USA) |
| Michael Umana (Brujas FC, Costa Rica) |
| Walter Centeno (Saprissa, Costa Rica) |
| Danny Fonseca (CS Cartagines, Costa Rica) |
| Carlos Hernandez (Alajuelense, Costa Rica) |
| Mauricio Solis (Comunicaciones, Guatemala) |
| Jervis Drummond (Saprissa, Costa Rica) |