As he prepares his game plan for the upcoming qualifying match against Panama, head coach Oscar Ramírez confirmed his roster for La Sele in a press conference this Friday.

Ramirez’ main concern is the number of sanctioned players in the team and with this in mind he took previsions when calling the players to take part of the next two matches of the hex stage to ensure the pass of the male national soccer team to Russia World Cup 2018.

Costa Rica will take on Panama on June 8th and Trinidad & Tobago on June 13th, both games will have La Sele playing at home in the National Stadium.

27 players in total were summoned, considering that Joel Campbell, Marco Ureña, Cristian Gamboa, Bryan Ruiz, Bryan Oviedo, Ronald Matarrita and José Salvatierra all have an accumulated yellow card.

Among the new players considered are: Ariel Rodríguez, David Ramírez and Daniel Colindres; any of them could eventually fill in for Ureña, Ruíz or Campbell in the offensive line.

Ramírez also called four goalkeepers as opposed to the usual three, Keylor Navas, Patrick Pemberton, Danny Carvajal and Leonel Moreira. The reason for this is that Navas still has to play the Champions League with Real Madrid on June 3rd; if all goes well Navas would join the team on June 5.

“Trinidad has more speed than Panama, but Panama presents a tight block up front that is difficult to break. We have to be prepared for both scenarios, it is a complex situation to handle”, mentioned Ramírez.

The majority of the players called to join La Sele will begin training on Monday, May 29th; however, many won’t be able to join in the training sessions until the following weekend, giving the coach and his team of trainers a short time to work with the whole group, “All players currently in the MLS are given permission to join until June 4th, but they are experienced players who understand our general idea, and we will stay in communication with them”, explained the head coach.

Russia World Cup 2018 Elimination matches calendar: (all times are Costa Rica local time)

June 8th

Costa Rica vs. Panama 8 p.m.
USMNT vs. Trinidad & Tobago 6 p.m.
Mexico vs. Honduras 8 p.m.

June 11th
Mexico vs. USMNT 7:30 p.m.

June 13th
Panama vs. Honduras 7:35 p.m.
Costa Rica vs. Trinidad & Tobago 8 p.m.