Costa Ricans are counting the hours for the National Soccer Team to make its debut in the Russia World Cup 2018, however, in addition to the two defeats that “La Sele” experienced in their international friendlies, the concerns grow today as the Costa Rica Soccer Federation officially confirmed that “La Sele” is losing defender Ronald Matarrita (#22) due to an injury.

23-year-old Matarrita, who plays for the New York City FC of the MLS, has an injury affecting his right leg, after an ultrasound and MRI team doctors concluded that he will require at least two weeks to recover, which leaves him out of the World Cup.

“Ronald Matarrita had been presenting discomfort for some days now on the back of his thigh, it was handled with physical therapy and medication, but, during the training yesterday the player told us that the discomfort was still there”, explained team doctor Alejandro Ramirez.

Head coach announced this Thursday afternoon that he will replace Matarrita with Kenner Gutierrez who will be traveling to Russia immediately but will likely not be ready to join the rest of the team for the debut game on Sunday at 6 a.m. in Samara.

Gutierrez plays with local team Alajuela and is 29 years old, this will be his first world cup experience.

The captain of the Costa Rican soccer team Bryan Ruiz is another reason for concern, the talented midfielder has been dealing with a back pain that caused him to miss two of the three friendly matches “La Sele” had, and did not look at the top of his game during this 60 minute participation against Belgium; indeed, during the training on Wednesday, Ruiz had to train separately from the rest of the team.