The Costa Rican national team could only manage a 0-0 draw against Honduras at the National Stadium. This result dashes the hopes of the "Ticos" (Costa Rican national team) of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. With Miguel Herrera at the helm, Costa Rican football will once again miss out on a World Cup, ending a positive run for "La Sele" (the national team). Costa Rica was in Group C. The Costa Rican team only managed to win one match in this entire round. The "Ticos" finished behind Haiti and Honduras in the group. The main target of criticism is Miguel Herrera, especially considering that "La Sele" faced a qualifying campaign without Mexico, Canada, and the United States in the competition. The Costa Rican team finished its participation in the group stage with a record of one win, four draws, and one loss. Costa Rica hits rock bottom again, but this time on a path that seemed easy.

“Yes, we are eliminated, I have already accepted it and told the boys. Yes, we didn't achieve our goal and we have to move on because this is football. I am responsible. Never in my career have I found myself in such an unfortunate situation. We tried and we couldn't realize the dream, the boys' hopes. Not winning is a failure. Not achieving victory when we should have, we only won one match,” said the Mexican coach before the game.

Costa Rica ends its World Cup streak

“La Sele” has gone to 6 World Cups in its history. In 1990 Costa Rica attended its first World Cup in Italy. “Los Ticos” reached the round of 16. It took 12 years for Costa Rica to return to a World Cup, and they did so in Korea/Japan 2002. But in their second World Cup, "La Sele" was eliminated in the group stage. In Germany 2006, Costa Rica went to its second consecutive World Cup, but would return to instability in its football, as they would be absent from the South Africa 2010 World Cup. But since Brazil 2014, Costa Rican football has had its representative in the World Cup. "Los Ticos" managed to qualify for the World Cups of Brazil 2014, Russia 2018, and Qatar 2022.Costa Rica's best performance was in the Brazil edition, a tournament in which they reached the quarterfinals. After three consecutive World Cups, Costa Rica has once again failed to qualify. Miguel Herrera will go down in the history books of Costa Rican football as the coach who ended the streak of qualifications in a qualifying campaign without Mexico, the United States, and Canada. "El Piojo" is a proven coach in the region, but for now, he will have to wait for the opportunity to redeem himself.