President of Costa Rica may declare World Cup play-off clash a national holiday
The Costa Rica national team will go on the road to play New Zealand at Al Rayyan stadium in Doha with a place at the FIFA World Cup at stake.
There is no tomorrow for Costa Rica ahead of their FIFA World Cup qualifying game against New Zealand at Al Rayyan stadium. Los Ticos will have two games prior facing the All Whites because of the start of the CONCACAF Nations League tournament next month.
The Costa Rica national team will go on the road to face Panama at Estadio Rommel Fernández for the start of the campaign on 2 June.
Three days later they will host Martinique at Estadio Nacional and for these two matches, Keylor Navas was not included in the roster so he could take some time off after a long season with club and country.
Costa Rica could ‘shut down’ on June 14
The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper is expected to join Los Ticos’ camp during the second week of June to start preparing for their World Cup qualifying games against New Zealand. This is such an important game for the entire country of Costa Rica that their president, Rodrigo Cháves, is considering declaring June 14 a national holiday.
Cháves is aware of the impact on the economy that qualifying to the 2022 FIFA World Cup would bring to Costa Rica and that the majority of the people in the country will tune in to watch the single elimination match. “I haven’t made a decision yet and I need to think about it. In a few days I will make a decision. The reason that I may not declare that day a national holiday is because they will played in Qatar,” explained Cháves during a press conference.