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MOSCOW — Los Angeles FC striker Marco Ureña is no stranger to the World Cup. The forward was a member of the Costa Rica squad four years ago in Brazil.
Of course, four years ago, Costa Rica surprised the world. Los Ticos stormed all the way to the quarterfinals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. There, they faced the Netherlands, and Costa Rica took the Dutch all the way to penalties.
What followed next was dramatic. Louis van Gaal swapped keeper Jasper Cillessen for second-choice keeper Tim Krul, a specialist when it comes to stopping penalties. He stopped two penalties by the Ticos to send Oranje through to the next round.
Ureña was not one of the penalty takers. The forward had come on in the 66th minute for Joel Campbell. Ureña or Campbell, in fact, has been a lineup question ever since Ureña made his debut for Los Ticos in 2009.
For a long time, Campbell seemed to have the upper hand when it came to competing for a spot in the starting XI. During the World Cup four years ago, Ureña featured in four out of the five matches, coming off the bench in every single one of his World Cup appearances.
With Campbell’s career stalling, though, and Ureña making an essential step in his development, the table seems to have turned. Ureña started in critical friendlies against England and Belgium ahead of the tournament. Furthermore, he was also the starter in three out of the last four Concacaf World Cup qualification matches.
Drawn into a very tough Group E, which also includes Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland, Ureña is hopeful Costa Rica can now repeat the success achieved four years ago.
“As a team, the expectation is so high for us. We are working hard to be the same way as in Brazil, but I know it will be tough,” Ureña told Pro Soccer USA ahead of the World Cup. “At the same time, we are looking forward to playing against Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland.”
On a personal level, this will also be a bit of a homecoming for Ureña. Between 2011 and 2014 the striker played for Kuban Krasnodar in the Russian Football Premier League.
On paper, his time in Russia was not the most successful. Playing just 31 games in four seasons, in which he failed to score a single goal, was a learning experience.
Even though his experience was not perfect in Russia, Ureña highlighted the positives.
“Krasnodar is such a football city, you know, everybody knows a lot about the game. And it is very tropical, almost like a South American place,” Ureña explained.
There is one thing that surprises Ureña, however. Despite being a beautiful city with a modern stadium, Krasnodar will not host games this summer.
“It was a political decision, I guess. They wanted to promote football in other places of the country, in cities where they don’t have as many followers,” Ureña told Pro Soccer USA.
Ureña is unfazed by the politics behind the game.
“We don’t really care where we play, to be honest,” he said. “We just want to go to the World Cup and play.”
Costa Rica will kick off the tournament Sunday against Serbia at Samara Arena and then face Brazil in St. Petersburg before finally playing Switzerland in Nizhny Novgorod. Ureña hopes that he will start in all three matches, cementing his spot in the starting XI.