Costa Rica hopes to find solutions after the two disappointments

The Costa Rica selection fell home against Panama in the two friendly matches scheduled for October, which has begun to generate doubts in the process of coach Ronald González, who has as one of his challenges renewing the squad.

Panama had never won in Costa Rica and did so twice in four days, both for 0-1, which is perhaps the factor that has most penetrated the fans and the press.

Although it is true that Costa Rica only had one soccer player from abroad, the Levante defender Oscar Duarte, the summoned from the local league failed to enforce the home against a rival that in recent years has been growing and is called to fight for the World Cup qualification.

“My main concern is that we lost two home games and the second is that we did not find to score goals. I do not agree that the performance was bad, we generated ten goal options, “said the coach on Tuesday night after the second game against the Panamanians.

Without its highest figures, the second line of footballers called to fight for a place in the calls for official matches, did not respond to the height against Panama, with some exceptions such as the winger Jeykel venegas and the defender Keyner Brown.

The defender Oscar Duarte, the midfielder Yeltsin Tejeda and the forward Johan VenegasThey have experience in World Cups and served as the backbone of the team in these friendlies.

The group called up for these games has practically never played together and only had a few days to train and embrace González’s idea.

The COVID-19 pandemic also caused the absence of footballers from Alajuelense, leader of the local tournament, including the veteran Bryan Ruiz, World Cup in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, and who is usually the captain of the National Team.

According to coach González, the team showed a good performance, which will allow you to draw conclusions about the players you can continue to count on.

On the other hand, several debutants in the National Team are over 30 years old at a time when there should be a campus renovation after the successful generation that qualified for the 2014 and 2018 World Cups.

Due to the pandemic this year Costa Rica has only played the games against Panama and one last February against the United States.

This has hampered the progress of the renewal process announced by González, who will now have to redouble efforts with a view to 2021, when Costa Rica must contest the gold Cup, the League of Nations and the start of the qualifier to Qatar 2022.

González said that outside the country there are 23 level players for the national team, who will be the basis for future calls, who will be joined by some from the domestic league.

The French PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas It is the call to command the team on the way to Qatar 2022 and it is possible that he will be called up for the two dates of friendly matches in November, for which Costa Rica has not yet announced rivals.

The striker from León Joel Campbell, the Spanish Deportivo La Coruña midfielder Celso borges, and the captain Bryan Ruiz, together with Navas, make up the group of veterans whom the coach must accompany a new generation of footballers who have not yet consolidated.

“We are not going to die for losing two games, which is lousy. It was lost but we must look for solutions and we will find them, “González said.