This article provides details of international football games played by the Costa Rica national team from 2020 to present.
Results KeyWinDrawDefeat
2020
Costa Rica began the decade with the struggles they were facing since their lackluster performance at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. 2020 began with a defeat against the United States in a friendly. A few days later, Teletica revealed that Costa Rica would face Greece and El Salvador in the United States the next month. The match against El Salvador was cancelled and replaced with a friendly against Panama at the "Fello" Meza stadium, as it would have been the first time in 24 years that Costa Rica played a match in that stadium. However, as coronavirus cases were surging, and its outbreak became a pandemic, both friendlies were cancelled.
As international football activity resumed in October, Costa Rica scheduled two friendly matches at home against Panama, losing both and sparking criticism from Central American media. A month later, Costa Rica drew against Qatar, scoring their first goal of the year, as the team became winless in official matches in 2020. The situation worsened after a last-minute defeat to the Basque Country. Writing for La República, Wálter Herrera pointed that Rónald González was the coach with the worst performance of the last twenty years.
Statistics
Competition Friendlies 5 0 1 4 2 6
Coaches # Coach Matches 1 Rónald González 5 (all)
Goalscorers Player GoalsJoel Campbell 1Jonathan Moya
2021 In 2021, Costa Rica resumed their winless streak under Rónald González as head coach. In March, a European tour delivered a draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina and a loss against Mexico. Three months later, as part of the 2021 CONCACAF Nations League Finals, Costa Rica was yet again unable to defeat Mexico, reaching a scoreless draw but losing in the penalty shoot-outs. Costa Rica then played the third place play-off against rivals Honduras, which ended in a 2–2 draw, again losing in the penalty shoot-outs and finishing fourth, thus increasing the frustrations within the surroundings of the team.
Days later, González was sacked by the Costa Rican Football Federation after a 4–0 defeat in a friendly against the United States. The Federation then signed Colombian coach Luis Fernando Suárez, two weeks before the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup. By defeating Guadeloupe, Suriname, and Jamaica, Costa Rica won all nine points in a CONCACAF Gold Cup group stage for the first time in its history. However, Costa Rica lost against Canada at the quarter-finals.
Controversy began engulfing Suarez's stint in the beginning of the third round of CONCACAF's qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. After a scoreless draw as visitors against Panama, Suárez decided to leave young forward Manfred Ugalde as a substitute in the following games at home against Mexico and Jamaica. Suárez claimed that his decision was due to Ugalde "losing most duels" against the Panamanians, despite being contradicted by a Costa Rican statistician. Bewildered by Suárez's declarations, Ugalde decided to quit the national team and not return as long as Suárez remained as coach, citing that he felt "exposed" and "disqualified" by the coach. Days later, defender Giancarlo González also stepped aside from the national team, citing his desire to make way for younger players. A month later, González stated that his decision was actually a definitive retirement from the national team, explaining that he did not feel in the condition to play for the team.
Costa Rica had a complicated start of the qualifying process. During the first half of the CONCACAF qualification third round, Costa Rica stood fifth at only six points out of twenty-one, five points behind Panama, then the fourth-placed team. The second half of the round began on 16 November 2021; that night, as Costa Rica was drawing a home match against Honduras, their gap against the Panamanians almost increased to seven points; however, a late goal by Gerson Torres gave a crucial victory for the Ticos, which would start a comeback for the team that extended through 2022.
Statistics Competition CONCACAF Nations League Finals 2 0 2 0 2 2 CONCACAF Gold Cup 4 3 0 1 6 4 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 8 2 3 3 6 7 Friendlies 4 0 2 2 0 5 Total 18 5 7 6 14 18
Coaches # Coach Matches 1 Rónald González 5 (1 to 5) 2 Luis Fernando Suárez 13 (6 onwards)
Goalscorers # Player Goals 1 Celso Borges 3 Joel Campbell 3 Bryan Ruiz 2 4 Francisco Calvo 1 Óscar Duarte Keysher Fuller Ariel Lassiter Jimmy Marín Gerson Torres
2022
Statistics
Competition FIFA World Cup qualification 7 6 1 0 8 1 CONCACAF Nations League 2 1 0 1 2 2 FIFA World Cup 3 1 0 2 3 11 Friendlies 3 2 1 0 6 3 Total 15 10 2 3 19 17
Coaches Coach Matches Luis Fernando Suárez 15 (all)
Goalscorers
# Player Goals 1 Joel Campbell 4 2 Jewison Bennette 2 Anthony Contreras Juan Pablo Vargas Kendall Waston 6 Celso Borges 1 Francisco Calvo Óscar Duarte Keysher Fuller Anthony Hernández Bryan Ruiz Yeltsin Tejeda
2023
Statistics Competition 2022–23 CONCACAF Nations League 2 1 0 1 2 2CONCACAF Gold Cup 4 1 1 2 7 82023–24 CONCACAF Nations League 2 0 0 2 1 6Friendlies 4 1 0 3 5 9 Total 12 3 1 9 15 25
Coaches # Coach Matches 1 Luis Fernando Suárez 8 (1–8) 2 Claudio Vivas 2 (9 and 10) 3 Gustavo Alfaro 2 (11 and 12)
Goalscorers
# Player Goals 1 Francisco Calvo 3 2 Joel Campbell 2 Anthony Contreras Aarón Suárez 5 Diego Campos 1 Julio Cascante Randall Leal Manfred Ugalde Juan Pablo Vargas Kendall Waston
2024
Statistics
Competition Copa América qualifying 1 1 0 0 3 12026 FIFA World Cup qualification 2 2 0 0 7 0Copa América 3 1 1 1 2 4CONCACAF Nations League 6 2 3 1 9 4Friendlies 3 1 1 1 3 3 Total 15 7 5 3 24 12
Coaches
# Coach Matches 1 Gustavo Alfaro 9 (1–9) 2 Claudio Vivas 6 (10–15)
Goalscorers
# Player Goals 1 Josimar Alcócer 3 Francisco Calvo Orlando Galo Warren Madrigal 5 Manfred Ugalde 2 6 Alejandro Bran 1 Jefferson Brenes Jostin Daly Ariel Lassiter Alonso Martínez Andy Rojas Aarón Suárez Gerald Taylor Kenneth Vargas Álvaro Zamora
2025
Statistics
Competition 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification 8 3 4 1 18 7 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualification 2 2 0 0 13 1 Gold Cup 4 2 2 0 8 6 Friendlies 2 0 0 2 0 5 Total 16 7 6 3 39 19
Coaches Coach Matches Miguel Herrera 16 (all)
Goalscorers
# Player Goals 1 Manfred Ugalde 8 2 Alonso Martínez 7 3 Álvaro Zamora 4 4 Josimar Alcócer 3 Alejandro Bran Warren Madrigal 7 Jeyland Mitchell 2 Kenneth Vargas Francisco Calvo 10 Orlando Galo 1 Alexis Gamboa Joseph Mora Juan Pablo Vargas – Donell Arzú (own goal) 1
2026
Statistics
Competition Friendlies 3 0 1 2 3 10 Total 3 0 1 2 3 10
Coach Coach Matches Fernando Batista 3 (all)
Goalscorers # Player Goals 1 Josimar Alcócer 1Warren MadrigalAndrey Soto
Overall statistics Head to head records
Costa Rica's home confederation (i.e., CONCACAF) is listed first. Countries with scheduled matches in the future are marked in yellow.
FIFA teams Team CONCACAF 1 1 0 0 8 0 2 2 0 0 13 1 3 1 0 2 1 3 1 0 0 1 3 4 1 1 0 0 2 1 5 3 2 0 6 2 1 1 0 0 3 0 3 1 1 1 3 1 4 1 1 2 5 6 6 2 4 0 7 4 3 2 1 0 3 1 6 0 3 3 0 4 3 2 1 0 8 2 11 1 2 8 5 16 1 1 0 0 4 0 3 2 1 0 7 5 1 1 0 0 2 1 5 1 0 4 3 10 AFC 1 0 0 1 0 5 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 3 1 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 4 1 1 0 0 2 1CAF 1 1 0 0 2 0 CONMEBOL 1 0 0 1 1 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 6 1 0 0 1 1 3 1 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0OFC 1 1 0 0 1 0 UEFA 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 5 1 0 0 1 2 4 1 0 0 1 0 7 Total 81 29 21 31 105 106
Non-FIFA teams Team CONCACAF 2 2 0 0 6 1 3 3 0 0 10 5 None 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 Total 7 5 0 2 17 10
Overall record 39 86 34 21 31 122 111
Individual records Goalscorers
The player was the top goalscorer (whether alone or shared) of that particular year — The player did not play, or is yet to play, at least one match in that particular year (or had not made his debut by then) R The player has retired and is not expected to play for the team anymore
# Player Years Total2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 1 Manfred Ugalde 0 0 — 1 2 8 0 11 2 Francisco Calvo 0 1 1 3 3 2 — 10Joel Campbell 1 3 4 2 0 0 — 4 Alonso Martínez — 0 0 0 1 7 — 8 5 Josimar Alcócer — — — 0 3 3 1 7 Warren Madrigal — — — 0 3 3 1 7 Álvaro Zamora — — 0 0 1 4 0 5 8 Celso Borges 0 3 1 0 R 0 — 4 Alejandro Bran — 0 — 0 1 3 — Anthony Contreras — 0 2 2 0 0 — Orlando Galo 0 0 — 0 3 1 0 Juan Pablo Vargas 0 — 2 1 0 1 0 13 Bryan RuizR — 2 1 Retired 3 Aarón Suárez — 0 0 2 1 0 — Kenneth Vargas — — — 0 1 2 — Kendall Waston 0 0 2 1 — 0 — 17 Jewison Bennette — 0 2 0 — — 0 2 Óscar Duarte 0 1 1 0 — — — Keysher Fuller 0 1 1 0 — — — Ariel Lassiter — 1 — — 1 0 — Jeyland Mitchell — — — — 0 2 0 22 Jefferson Brenes 0 0 — — 1 0 0 1 Diego Campos — — — 1 — 0 — Julio Cascante — — — 1 0 0 — Jostin Daly 0 — — — 1 — — Alexis Gamboa — — — 0 0 1 — Randall Leal 0 0 — 1 0 — — Jimmy Marín — 1 — 0 — — — Joseph Mora 0 0 — — 0 1 — Jonathan Moya 1 0 — — — — — Andy Rojas — — — — 1 0 0 Andrey Soto — — — — — — 1 Gerald Taylor — — — 0 1 0 0 Yeltsin Tejeda 0 0 1 0 — — — Gerson Torres — 1 0 — — — — – Own goals 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 34 players + 1 own goal 2 14 19 15 24 39 3 114
Notes
References