This Saturday, November 11, the male national soccer teams of Costa Rica and Spain will face-off in a friendly match at 2:30 p.m. (Costa Rica time) in the Spanish city of Málaga.

This is the first match in preparation for the Russia World Cup 2018, however, Costa Rica is missing several key players due to injuries or other obligations, and therefore, head coach Oscar Ramírez will be forced to step out of his comfort zone and try other strategies that will allow the national team to have a plan B and perhaps even a much needed surprise element.

Goalkeeper Keylor Navas, captain Bryan Ruiz, attacker Joel Campbell, midfielder David Guzmán and fullback José Salvatierra are some of the figures we won’t be seeing in the friendly match against Spain or the one scheduled for Tuesday, November 14 against Hungary.

Precisely, part of the importance of these “test” games is having the possibility of trying out players in different positions, testing new strategies and in general come up with new plans and possibilities that will allow the team to show a different face against its rivals and have versatility and options in the event of injuries or unforeseen situations.

Even though “La Sele” classified to the World Cup in the second position of its group, there were times during the qualification stage where Costa Rica was in trouble and limited, in fact, in the last games, the team accumulated two draws and a loss.

The majority of the players that will take part of the World Cup are already selected: Keylor Navas, Kendall Waston, Jhonny Acosta, Francisco Calvo, Celso Borges, Cristian Gamboa, Ronald Matarrita, David Guzman, Bryan Ruiz, Christian Bolaños, Marco Ureña, Patrick Pemberton, Oscar Duarte, Giancarlo González, Jose Salvatierra, Bryan Oviedo, Randall Azofeifa, Yeltsin Tejeda, Joel Campbell, Rodney Wallace and Johan Venegas.

There are only two spots to fill in, the third goal keeper and a striker, and twelve players in total that are being considered.

These friendly matches in Europe and the rest of the test games scheduled for Match will give Costa Rica its complete list of players.