Rodrigo Kenton Johnson (born March 5, 1955) is a

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former player. He is known as ''La Bomba'' Kenton ''("The Kenton Bomb")''.

Playing career

Kenton started his playing career in Costa Rica's first division, playing for his hometown team, Limonense. He then went on to play for several teams, such as

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 ...

, Ramonense, Municipal Puntarenas,

Sagrada Familia Sagrada is a Spanish word meaning "sacred". It may refer to: *Sagrada, Missouri, a community in the United States * La Sagrada Família, a church in Barcelona, Spain *Rhamnus purshiana ''Frangula purshiana'' (cascara, cascara buckthorn, cascara ...

, Guanacasteca and San Carlos.

Coaching career

Kenton retired from professional football in 1989, and began a very successful and international coaching career. His first coaching job was as

assistant coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultima ...

Bora Milutinovic Bora may refer to: Geography * Bora (Australian), the site of an initiation ceremony in Australian aboriginal culture, sometimes known as Bora rings * Bora, Punjab, a village in India * Borá, a city in the São Paulo state in Brazil * Bora (wind ...

in the Costa Rica's national squad that played the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...

held in Italy, where

had a great performance and reached the second round, against all odds. In

, he has had short coaching periods at Costa Rica's first division, with

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 ...

and

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...

during the mid-1990s, but neither team gave him enough time to build his ideas and process. So, he went back to international football and in 1998, he was asked by Milutinovic to be his

again, this time with the

Nigeria national football team The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in men's international Association football, football. Governed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), they are three-time Africa Cup of Nations winners, with their most recent title in ...

that played the 1998 World Cup that took place in France. After completing the Nigeria job, he returned to take charge of

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas (canton), Puntarenas canton of Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which is made from the Puntar ...

only to be dismissed in October 1998. By the early 2000s, he took charge of the Costa Rica U23 team, and qualified them to the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

held in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Again, his team had a great performance and reached the Quarterfinals, eliminating favorites such as Portugal. He was then selected by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

to be part of the international official Technical Study Group for the Germany 2006 World Cup, along worldwide renowned football experts and coaches such as

Francisco Maturana Francisco Antonio Maturana García, also known as ''Pacho'' Maturana (born February 15, 1949) is a Colombian ex-football player and football manager. Under his management, Atletico Nacional was the first team of the nation to win the Copa Liber ...

Roger Milla Albert Roger Miller (born 20 May 1952), known as Roger Milla, is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was one of the first African players to be a major star on the international stage. He played in three Worl ...

Andy Roxburgh Andrew Roxburgh (born 5 August 1943) is a Scottish former football player and manager currently serving as an administrator. Roxburgh's entire professional playing career was spent in the Scottish Football League. After retiring as a player, h ...

Teófilo Cubillas Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga (; born 8 March 1949) is a Peruvian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was selected as Peru's greatest ever player in an IFFHS poll, in which he was also included in the world's Top 50. H ...

Jozef Venglos Jozef or Józef is a Dutch, Breton, Polish and Slovak version of masculine given name Joseph. A selection of people with that name follows. For a comprehensive list see and .. * Józef Beck (1894–1944), Polish foreign minister in the 1930s * J ...

, and others. In 2006, Kenton was named coach of the Guatemala national team U-23, with the goal to classify Guatemala to the 2008 Olympic Games, but failed to accomplish it.

Costa Rica national team

In late June 2008, after

Hernán Medford Hernán Evaristo Medford Bryan ( , ; born May 23, 1968) is a Costa Rican former Association football, football player and coach. Highly regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Central American football, Medford achieved su ...

was removed from his position as head coach of the Costa Rica national team, Eduardo Lee, president of the Fedefubol ( Federacion Costarricense de Futbol) and the board of executives chose Rodrigo Kenton as head coach of the Costa Rica national team, to qualify for the South Africa 2010. The announcement was made unofficially by Kenton in an interview by Radio Monumental's journalist Harrick McClean, when Fedefutbol had scheduled a press conference a week after Hernan Medford was removed. Kenton was named head coach with less than two months to the start of the 1st group phase of the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...

qualifiers for South Africa 2010. The group included

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

and

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. His first official match was a 1-0 win over

after an Alvaro Saborio penalty. With Kenton,

also beat Haiti and Suriname. He was fired 15 September 2009 after the team lost three World Cup qualifying matches in a row.

Personal life

He is married to Floribel Fadell Cartín and they have three sons: Keiner, Derrick and Kervin.Rodrigo Kenton Catedrático sin ínfulas Técnico de la Selección Nacional de Futbol
- Nación

References

External links

- Nación {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenton, Rodrigo 1955 births Living people People from Limón Province Costa Rican footballers C.F. Universidad de Costa Rica footballers Deportivo Saprissa players A.D. Ramonense players Puntarenas F.C. players A.D. San Carlos footballers Costa Rican football managers Costa Rica national football team managers L.D. Alajuelense managers Association football forwards