Enrique Rivers Gutiérrez (born 4 January 1961 in

Limón Limón (), commonly known as Puerto Limón, is a district, the capital city and main hub of Limón province, as well as of the Limón canton in Costa Rica. It is the seventh largest city in Costa Rica, with a population of over 55,000, and is ho ...

) became one of the most famous Costa Rican football players during the 1980s.

Club career

Rivers made his debut in the Costa Rica Primera División in 1978 with hometown club Limonense."Quiero orden"•Enrique Rivers, técnico limonense, procura disciplina y lucha en su equipo
- Nación He played most of his career with Saprissa, as well as for

Comunicaciones Comunicaciones Fútbol Club S.A., better known as Comunicaciones F.C. or Comunicaciones, are a football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. The most popular and successful footba ...

in Guatemala and

Herediano Club Sport Herediano (), commonly known as Herediano and nicknamed El Team, is a Costa Rican multisport club based in Heredia, Heredia province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Herediano is mostly known for its association ...

. He retired in 1993.

International career

Rivers made his debut for Costa Rica in a March 1983

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and he is mostly remembered for scoring the goal against Italy's national team during the

1984 Olympic Games The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an intern ...

held in Los Angeles. At that period of time, the Italians were the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

champions, and their defeat against Costa Rica was a historic event in the football world. His final international was a May 1989 FIFA World Cup qualification match against

Trinidad & Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of Gr ...

Managerial career

After retiring from professional football, Rivers was assistant to manager

Alexandre Guimarães Alexandre Henrique Borges Guimarães (born 7 November 1959) is a Costa Rican football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of América de Cali. Born and raised in Brazil, Guimarães played for the ...

for five years at Belén, Herediano and Saprissa, where they won the 1998 and 1999 local championships. His first job in charge was at Limonense in 2000 and he was head coach of

Deportivo Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...

for a short period of time as well, but decided to focus on the coordinating tasks for Saprissa's minor league system, where he has been able to discover and recruit young kids and launch them into successful football careers. In December 2012 he was put in charge of Saprissa's reserve team, Saprissa de Corazón, in the second division.Rivers dirigirá al Saprissa de Corazón
- Al Día

References

1961 births Living people People from Limón Province Association football midfielders Costa Rican footballers Costa Rica international footballers Olympic footballers of Costa Rica Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Deportivo Saprissa players Comunicaciones F.C. players Costa Rican expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Guatemala Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Costa Rican football managers Deportivo Saprissa managers Deportivo Saprissa non-playing staff {{CostaRica-footy-bio-stub