Costa Rica counting on veterans and World Cup experience in Qatar

Costa Rica were the last team to qualify for the World Cup but the Central American side will travel to Qatar hoping to avoid making a swift exit like they did in Russia four years ago.

Playing in their sixth World Cup, Costa Rica are no longer minnows and Luis Fernando Suarez's squad will be expected to do more than just make up the numbers in the 32-team tournament.

They shocked the world in 2014 when they had their best run at the finals in a 'Group of Death' with three heavyweights - Uruguay, Italy and England.

They defied overwhelming odds to top the group without losing and conceded one goal - a penalty. But their luck ran out in the quarter-finals when they were dumped out by the Netherlands in a shootout.

Six players from that Costa Rica squad, who are all on the wrong side of 30, are expected to fly to Qatar - goalkeeper Keylor Navas, Bryan Ruiz, Joel Campbell, Oscar Duarte, Yeltsin Tejeda and Celso Borges.

The same players also featured at the World Cup in 2018 and, although Costa Rica were eliminated in the group stage, Suarez has a core of senior men with tournament experience to count on.

Suarez has built his team on defensive solidity, which saw them concede only eight goals in qualifying, while they were dangerous on the counter-attack. But they did not have the best start to their qualifiers with six points from seven games.

They quickly turned things around, though, with six wins and a draw in the second half of the campaign to advance to the intercontinental playoff, where they beat New Zealand to seal the last spot at the World Cup.

Although Suarez had been slammed for picking ageing veterans like 35-year-old Navas and Bryan Ruiz, 37, in their quest to qualify, he was vindicated when they punched their ticket