Costa Rica coach glad he kept faith with veterans

• Defender Kendall Waston says he cannot wait to return to Qatar for World Cup

Costa Rica coach Luis Fernando Suarez said he felt a sense of vindication for persuading veteran players like Keylor Navas and Bryan Ruiz to stay on with the national team after they helped secure World Cup qualification on Tuesday.
The Central Americans edged New Zealand 1-0 in their intercontinental playoff at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan to claim the last available berth at the World Cup finals in Qatar later this year. In goal for Costa Rica was 35-year-old Navas, who has won more than 100 caps, while 36-year-old forward Ruiz also featured.
“I had to persuade them to stay on and play another World Cup and I’m glad I did,” said Fernando Suarez after the one-off tie. “There were many who criticised that but they were an important part of the success of this squad. This group is spectacular, I can’t describe it. It is a spectacular human group. With these players it is much easier to do things.”
The prize for beating New Zealand was a place in Group E alongside Spain, Germany and Japan at the finals, which start on November 21.
“Ah, yes I forgot about that,” said the coach when asked about his team’s prospects in a tough group. “Tomorrow I’ll have to start thinking about everything. But we’ll have to improve and I hope in the next few months we can do that. “We want to be competitive against these countries, I think that is important.”
Costa Rica had failed to grab an automatic qualifying berth in the CONCACAF preliminaries but Paris St Germain goalkeeper Navas, who will be heading to his third successive World Cup, said he never lost hope. “We never stopped believing despite the fact that we played many finals, many games with water up to our necks, that we had to win,” he added. “We were under a lot of pressure.”
Defender Kendall Waston said he cannot wait to return to Qatar in November. “I want the time to fly, so I can come back soon, as we want to enjoy this World Cup,” said Waston. “It’s going to be something unique – and hopefully, we can play well and qualify for the next round. We have a hard group against Japan, Spain and Germany, but I’m looking forward to it.”
With qualification assured, Luis Suarez’s side are looking forward to planning for the most compact World Cup to be staged in the modern era, with many of the Costa Rican players having experienced the geographical challenges that came with participating in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018.
“It’s going to be nice,” defender Francisco Calvo said of Qatar 2022. “When we went to Brazil, there were long distances between cities, with flights of two to three hours, then returning back to our training base. Everything here is going to be close and that will be good. For me, it’s going to be one of the best World Cups in history. Qatar has all the conditions to do it, so we just need to enjoy it.”
Victory over New Zealand proved useful in helping Costa Rica familiarise themselves with one of the stadiums they will appear in later this year. Waston said he was impressed with the quality and amenities that make up Ahmad Bin Ali. “The stadium is world-class, it’s top notch,” he said of the Al Rayyan-based venue. “I think Qatar has everything that you can ask for. The only thing is that in the World Cup, I think the stadium environment is going to be at 100% capacity, so we are going to enjoy it even more.”
Los Ticos also have an appreciation for the unique nature of this year’s World Cup, which is being held in the Middle East and Arab world for the first time. “It’s something different, it’s something new, and I’m happy that Costa Rica will be part of it,” said Calvo.
“We just need to enjoy the World Cup and try to do our best. For now, it’s time to enjoy, to be happy, to rest and then work to prepare for the World Cup.”
Waston believes Qatar 2022 will be a memorable event and hopes many of his compatriots take up the opportunity to visit the country later this year. “What I think they will try to do is make this the best World Cup ever,” he said. “I’m sure people here will want to impress everybody and I think it will happen.”