SAN JOSE, Costa Rica.- The Costa Rican Football Federation, Fedefutbol, which is in charge of the Costa Rican National Team, is turning 100 years old after its founding in 1921 and the Costa Ricans want to make this 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup theirs to take back home and celebrate big.
To accomplish the mission of winning the Gold Cup, Costa Rica’s head coach Luis Fernando Suarez called up players that complement each other’s skills. The 23-member squad has 11 members that play outside of Costa Rica including five in the United States, three in Spain, one in Denmark, Colombia, and Mexico.
Midfielder Celso Borges currently plays for Deportivo La Coruña in Spain and is one of the players with the most extensive international experience, with 21 games and three goals over the course of five Concacaf Gold Cups under his belt.
Borges is considered by many in the Costa Rica squad as the “brain” of the team, making his influence in the midfield vital to both the offense and defense of Costa Rica. The 33-year-old has 133 caps for the Costa Rica national football team and 23 goals. These are just some of the reasons why he was chosen to once again be part of the Gold Cup team for Costa Rica.
In 2018, center-midfielder Allan Cruz debuted with Costa Rica, and although he can be considered still somewhat new to the national team, Cruz was part of the 2019 Gold Cup that earned Costa Rica a quarterfinal spot, but was eliminated by Mexico in a penalty shoot-out. The 22-year-old has scored on three occasions for Costa Rica and is looking to grow that number while helping his team advance and take the cup.
Cruz is currently playing in Major League Soccer (MLS) with FC Cincinnati when the team became part of the MLS in 2019. Since the beginning, the Costa Rican midfielder has played an important part of the team development and has been a starter for Cincinnati. Presently, he has eight goals with the team.
With midfielders both young and experienced, Costa Rica will have ample strength in the middle of the park at the Gold Cup.
