The undisputed second-best team in CONCACAF isn’t flying under the radar anymore, not after a 2014 World Cup appearance that saw Costa Rica win a deadly group that included Uruguay, Italy, and England, then make a quarter-final run that was only stopped by a penalty shootout loss to the Netherlands. Almost all the…

Costa Rica got their only goal of the night in tonight’s World Cup qualifying match against Mexico from Marco Ureña, who tied things up with this laser into the corner of the net:

The opening game of tonight’s Gold Cup action between Costa Rica and Panama seemed to be on a slow ride toward extra time*, but a Costa Rica free kick into the box led to a 77th minute own goal when the ball glanced of the top of Anibal Godoy’s head.

As Clint Dempsey strutted over toward the corner flag after converting a penalty in the 9th minute that gave the Americans the all-important, pressure valve-releasing lead on Costa Rica, he channeled his inner Cristiano Ronaldo and mimicked the Real Madrid forward’s famous “Calma” gesture. “Settle down, you guys,” he…

Canada and Costa Rica are playing each other in Olympic Qualifiers right now, and Christine Sinclair put Canada up 2-0 with this beauty. This ain’t quite Christen Press’s once-in-a-lifetime first touch, but it’s awful damn good. Poor Costa Rica just keeps getting golazo’d on.

You don’t really need a translation of these commentators’ remarks to understand why the referee in a Costa Rican second division match jogged over to the sideline and kicked one of them out. The audible exasperation with which they use words like “malísimo,” “terrible,” and “ridículo” makes it all pretty easy to…

As expected, Costa Rica national team manager Paulo Wanchope resigned today, one day after he got into a videotaped brawl with a security guard at an Olympic qualifier. According to the Tico Times, Wanchope remorsefully said “We’re all human and sometimes we can lose our senses, and yesterday I lost my senses…

Costa Rica and Panama’s U-23 teams met in Panama City Tuesday night as part of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The match ended in a scoreless draw, and the real fireworks came after the final whistle blew. As recorded by Panamanian journalist Jhony Mosquera, that’s Costa Rican head coach Paulo Wanchope…

I’m going to share with you some tips on how not to be kidnapped at gunpoint in Santa Cruz, Costa Rica and never be seen intact again. Didacticism coming at you—I’mma use every Spanish word I learned in my one-week trip to that scenic country, thereby proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that ignorance was not an asset…

Here’s everything you need to know about Group E.

There has always been a very clear pecking order in CONCACAF women’s soccer. The United States are the dominant team, and lose infrequently to Canada and even more infrequently to Mexico. They are the only three teams to ever qualify for the World Cup from the continent, but in 2014 Costa Rica became the fourth.

Dutch players swarm forward after defeating Costa Rica on penalty kicks. Photograph by Ryu Voelkel.

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