Costa Rican Clubs Snub National Team Coach; Bradley Names U.S. Training Roster
By JACK BELL
NY times
A little more than a week before Costa Rica hosts the United States in a World Cup qualifying match, the two clubs involved in the Costa Rican finals have declined to release their players. Coach Rodrigo Kenton has named 25 players to his roster for a training camp that is scheduled to start on Monday, which is in the middle of the home-and-home series.
The roster includes six players from the two teams — C.S. Herediano and Municipal Liberia Mía — who are involved in an already delayed series for the Torneo de Verano championship of Costa Rica’s top league.
Costa Rica is scheduled to play the visiting United States in its capital, San José, on June 3. After three matches in the six-nation final round of qualifying in the Concacaf region for three automatic spots in next summer’s World Cup in South Africa, the United States (2-0-1), in first place with 7 points, leads Costa Rica (2-1-0) by 1 point.
The start of finals of the Costa Rican championship, which was scheduled for Friday in Liberia’s Estadio Edgardo Baltodano Briceño, was delayed because of a protest filed by Deportivo Saprissa. Saprissa, perhaps the most successful club team in Costa Rica, alleged that Liberia played in the second leg of its semifinal series against Saprissa (won by Liberia, 2-1, on aggregate after a 1-0 win away in San José) with players who carried too many yellow cards.
The Costa Rican federation dismissed the claim, but delayed Friday’s match. The finals are now scheduled to be played Sunday in Liberia, which is in the western part of the country. The return match in Heredia, which is about 6 miles north of the capital, will be played Wednesday in Herediano’s Estadio Eladio Rosabal Cordero.
Kenton has named four Herediano and two Liberia players to his roster for the match against the United States. (In addition, he called Gonzalo Segares, a defender for Chicago of Major League Soccer, who is expected to travel to Costa Rica after Sunday’s match against the Red Bulls in East Rutherford, N.J.)
From Herediano, Kenton called goalkeeper Ricardo Gonzalez, defender Dennis Marshall, and forwards Andy Furtado and Andy Herron (who has played in M.L.S. for Chicago and Columbus). The players from Liberia are defenders Esteban Sirias and Harold Wallace.
United States Coach Bob Bradley named his 24-man training camp roster on Sunday ahead of the games against Costa Rica and Honduras (in Chicago on June 6).
