Bryan Ruiz Debuts as Costa Rica Coach With Nations League Survival at Stake

Bryan Ruiz will coach Costa Rica’s national soccer team for the first time tonight when La Sele visits Nicaragua in a Concacaf Nations League match that could decide whether Costa Rica stays in the competition’s top tier. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. Costa Rica time (10 p.m. ET) at Nicaragua’s National Stadium in Managua. The former captain takes over at one of the lowest points in the team’s recent history. Costa Rica opened its League A, Group A campaign with a 4-3 home loss to Curaçao and a 2-0 defeat to Haiti, leaving it without a point after two matches. Those results ended the tenure of Argentine coach Fernando “Bocha” Batista, who left after seven months without a win. The Costa Rican Football Federation (FCRF) turned to Ruiz to lead the team, initially for the final two matches of the group stage. Costa Rica sits fifth in the group, ahead of only Nicaragua and behind Curaçao, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago. Tonight’s match pits the two bottom teams against each other. Costa Rica no longer controls its own fate. The team needs to beat Nicaragua tonight and Haiti at home on Sunday just to keep alive its hopes of avoiding relegation to League B. The slide has also hit Costa Rica in the global standings. La Sele dropped six places to 57th in FIFA’s live ranking after the two losses, and it has not won two matches in a row since June 2025. Ruiz made four changes to Batista’s last squad. Goalkeeper Keylor Navas, midfielder Celso Borges, defender Juan Pablo Vargas and Roan Wilson return, while Gerald Taylor, Sebastián Padilla, Gian Mauro Morera and Mathías Elizondo were left out. The return of Navas and Borges reunites Ruiz with two teammates from the 2014 World Cup squad that reached the quarterfinals in Brazil, the best finish in the country’s history. Ruiz has named Wílmer López and Edson Soto as his assistants. Speaking at his final press conference before the team traveled to Managua, Ruiz said he had not been seeking the national team job and had not rushed anything, noting that he has spent four years preparing as a coach. He said Navas remains the best goalkeeper Costa Rica has and should stay with the team for as long as he wants to. Navas, for his part, described the appointment as a good opportunity for his former captain. Ruiz led only four training sessions before tonight’s match. Analysts have cautioned that such a short window leaves little room for deep tactical changes. This is the first meeting between Costa Rica and Nicaragua in the Nations League. When the two sides last met in Nicaragua, during qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, the match ended 1-1. In Costa Rica, the match will be broadcast exclusively on Fox. Costa Rica closes the group stage against Haiti at home on Sunday.