COSTA RICA: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Costa Rican captain Luis Marin and star midfielder Walter Centeno prepare for World Cup match in Germany

Record ID: 626295

  • Title: COSTA RICA: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Costa Rican captain Luis Marin and star midfielder Walter Centeno prepare for World Cup match in Germany
  • Date: 28th April 2006
  • Summary: SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA (FILE?) (REUTERS) MID VIEW: LUIS MARIN TRAINING WITH THE NATIONAL TEAM
  • Embargoed: 13th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Costa Rica
  • Country: Costa Rica
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA6G0S2DNLTQOG068QHEKUN9LFG
  • Story Text: As Costa Rica prepares to face World Cup hosts Germany in the opening match of the tournament on June 9, some of the team's star players are looking forward to their big moment.
    Among those expecting to play a part in the match is team captain and key defender Luis Marin, an experienced 31-year-old who currently plays for Alajuelense.
    Coming into his second World Cup, Marin indicated that this may be his last, as he makes way for new young players to take his place.
    "Regarding the national team, well yes, I think that, that I have gone pretty far with this and well, I think that there are also young people coming behind that I think deserve (a place). Also, let one go on and leave the field and let new blood come," he said.
    Marin has been capped 116 times for Costa Rica over the course of his lengthy career, having made his first division debut as far back as 1992.
    Despite his country's tough group, with Costa Rica also facing Poland and Ecuador in the first round of this year's World Cup, Marin said he had faith that Costa Rica could rise to the occasion.
    "I think we should make the most of it. Knowing the Costa Rican player, I know that when he has these big showcases it's like he plays better, and that's what we're hoping for, for us to get bigger in the good sense of the world, and for us to be able to... leave a very good image and be able to get a good result from it," he said.
    Marin has also played for Guatemala's Universidad de San Carlos, and Uruguay's River Plate over his 14 years in first division soccer. But he's not the only Costa Rican player hoping to make his years of experience count in Germany. Born in the same year as Marin, team-mate Walter Centeno will also be hoping to shine for the Ticos at the World Cup.
    This creative midfielder, who has played for Belén, Goicoechea and AEK Athens, and helped his current club Saprissa to win the 2003-2004 league, is also gearing up for the tournament. Having first played for the national squad in 1995, Centeno is confident that his team's hunger for victory is what will propel it to success in this year's World Cup.
    "Above all I feel the desire for victory, the hunger to win something. I feel that this is going to count above whether we are well trained or not," said the Costa Rican soccer star.
    Centeno has been a Costa Rican fixture ever since his 1995 debut, and has consistently delivered outstanding performances. But despite suggestions that he may be courted by a European team following his World Cup performances, he refuses to put pressure on himself.
    "The door is going to be open, so I'm not going to put pressure on myself. The important thing is to play a good role with my team, and afterwards, the options to go and play abroad will come by themselves, so I'm going to concentrate full on the team work, and the individual work will emerge by itself," he said.
    Alongside Marin, Centeno's focus will be on improving Costa Rica's performance, given their shaky performance in qualification. Having put in some excellent World Cup performances in Italy in 1990 and in Japan-Korea in 2002, Costa Rica will be hoping to go even further than they did in 1990 where they reached the last 16.
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