The Costa Rica male national soccer team will be facing Mexico this March 24th and four days later it will measure up against Honduras as part of the hex stage of the CONCACAF elimination matches on route to Russia World Cup 2018.

Costa Rica’s head coach Oscar Ramírez announced the names of all players called this Friday, the base of the team remains almost the same, with the addition of wingback Heiner Mora, who plays with Saprissa, and the absence of backup goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado who plays with the Trabzonspor of Turkey and who according to Ramírez he decided not to consider because he is the third goalie of the national team and he’d be traveling a long distance from a country that has a complicated political situation; his spot will be filled by Danny Carvajal also from Saprissa.

This time around Ramírez called in a total of 25 players instead of the original 23, he explained this is in preparation to possible sanctions from players that already have a yellow card: Bryan Ruíz, Marco Ureña, Joel Campbell, Johnny Acosta and Ronald Matarrita.

The complete list of summoned players:

Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas, Patrick Pemberton and Danny Carvajal
Defenders: Giancarlo “Pipo” González, Michael Umaña, Johnny Acosta, Oscar Duarte, Francisco Calvo, Ronald Matarrita, Bryan Oviedo, Kendall Waston, Cristian Gamboa and Heiner Mora
Midfielders: Ulises Segura, Randall Azofeifa, Yeltsin Tejeda, David Guzmán, Celso Borges, Christian Bolaños, Bryan Ruiz and Rodney Wallace.
Forwards: Johan Venegas, José Guillermo Ortiz, Joel Campbell and Marco Ureña

The game against Mexico scheduled for next Friday, March 24 will take place in Mexico’s Azteca Stadium. Mexico’s coach Juan Carlos Osorio, released the list of players called to face Costa Rica on Thursday and they will begin their preparation on Sunday, they have three important absences in their team, all of them due to injuries: Giovani Dos Santos (forward), Jesus “Tecatito” Corona (midfielder) and Hirving Lozano (winger).

This game promises excitement as there is a historic rivalry between the two teams.