FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017: Costa Rica announce official 21-man squad 

India is all set to host the much awaited 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, scheduled to kick off in October. 24 countries from six confederations will be competing for one of the biggest honours in youth football. The matches will be hosted in six major cities of India.

CONCACAF's Costa Rica, belonging to Group C, are set to take on Germany on October 7th, their group opener in Goa. The Costa Rican coach, Breansse Camacho, has announced the official squad to be comprised of three goalkeepers, five defenders, eleven midfielders, and two forwards.

Costa Rica will be challenged by Iran and Guinea after facing Germany in Group C.

The Costa Rica U-17 Squad

Goalkeepers

Ricardo Montenegro (Saprissa), Kevin Chamorro (Carmelita), Brandon Calvo (Alajuelense)

Defenders

Andrés Hernández (Saprissa), Fernán Faerron (Fútbol Consultants), Karin Arce (Alajuelense), Walter Cortés (Saprissa), Alexánder Román (Alajuelense)

Midfielders

Amferny Arias (Alajuelense), Sebastián Castro (Carmelita), Christian Muñoz (Saprissa), Ronnier Bustamante (Herediano), Daniel Chacón (Cartaginés), José Alfaro (Carmelita), Felipe Flores (Alajuelense), Yecsy Jarquín (Liberia), Josué Abarca (Carmelita), Andrés Gómez (Guadalupe), Greivin Fonseca (Saprissa)

Forwards

Julen Cordero (Saprissa), Mario Mora (Liberia)

In case you didn't know...

This FIFA U-17 World Cup will be Costa Rica’s tenth appearance on the global stage of the U-17 level. The team have been quite successful in the period between 2001 and 2007 when they reached the knockout stages every time they stepped into the tournament.

Although they couldn’t qualify for the 2011 and 2013 editions, Costa Rica had a decent performance in 2015 when they beat France on penalties, winning a knockout game for the first time at a FIFA U-17 World Cup in the process.

Preparing for the battle

Costa Rica toured Honduras and Columbia earlier in August, as part of their preparations for the U-17 World Cup. Coach Camacho took over the team from Argentine Marcelo Herrera, who he had assisted earlier at Chile in 2015. Camacho has had good experience in coaching youth teams at the national level.

Key players to watch out for

Costa Rica’s number 9 Julen Cordero has managed to catch the attention of everyone, thanks to the series of consistent outings since the start of the year. You can be hopeful that he will continue with his hot streaks in the upcoming mega-event.

Apart from Cordero, midfielder Andres Gomez is another player to watch out for at the FIFA 2017 U-17 World Cup.