President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, the First Lady, Claudia Dobles and other members of the government received the visit of the Male National Soccer Team at the Presidential House this past Monday.

Headed by coach Oscar Ramirez, the players and representatives of the Costa Rican Soccer Federation, responded to the invitation of the president:

“You represent the feeling of almost 5 million Costa Ricans that from here will be offering support. You already proved 4 years ago that limits can be overcome and that despite being a small country, we are huge in democracy, in environment, giants in peace, and we can be giants in soccer”, commented Alvarado.

The President also released a short video with a message of support for the 23 players that will be representing the country in the Russia World Cup.

“For us it’s an honor to share with the President, the First Lady and members of the Government. We are in the final lap. We will have this Sunday the farewell game against Northern Ireland in the National Stadium and then the friendlies against England and Belgium in Europe. The players have prepared with the direction of the technical team to face this final stage”, expressed Rodolfo Villalobos, President of the Costa Rica Soccer Federation (Fedefutbol).

However, a “small” oversight caused the outrage of many Costa Ricans, who expressed their indignation through social media.

The President and the First Lady both received an official jersey of the National Team, President Alvarado took his out of the box to show the back of the shirt with his name imprinted, but, when Dobles turned hers over it was blank, no imprint of her name. Gracefully, she showed the front of the shirt and smiled at the cameras, but her initial reaction, her husband’s and even the expression in the face of the captain of La Sele, Bryan Ruiz, said it all.

Most likely it was “just an oversight” that was not meant to cause any harm, but the reactions by women and men alike were immediate, many considered it an act of ‘machismo’ (sexism).

“I imagine that the Fedefutbol is expecting that this disrespect (not giving Claudia Dobles a personalized shirt) will be forgotten with all the craziness of the World Cup. But I’d like to remind them and tell them that the fans, that are not few, expect an explanation and apology”, stated Alejandra Zúñiga in Facebook.

“And Claudia’s jersey? It’s embarrassing what they did, sneaky machismo, complete invisibility of women… “ commented Karla Valverde.

The Fedefutbol has not given an official statement regarding this unfortunate situation.