Marvin Rodríguez Ramírez (26 November 1934 – 16 October 2017) was a

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He coached the

Costa Rica national football team The Costa Rica national football team () represents Costa Rica in men's international Association football, football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation, Federación Costarricense de Fútbol (), the governi ...

to its debut at 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 name is ...

in 1990.

Career

Club

Born in barrio Don Bosco, San José,Breve historial de Marvin Rodríguez
- Nación Rodríguez was a local star playing for

Deportivo Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its Association football, football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, Costa Rica, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aym ...

back in the 1950s and 1960s. He was part of the Saprissa team that went on a world tour in 1959, becoming the first Latin American team to do such a trip. He also played for

Municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

between 1961 and 1964, where he became player-manager. He retired as a player with Saprissa in 1966 after breaking his ankle.

International

In addition to his club career, Rodríguez made 43 playing appearances for the

, scoring 7 goals. In the 1950s, he was part of the team known as '' Chaparritos de Oro'', which against all odds won a silver medal at the

Pan-American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

held in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. He represented his country in 14

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches.

Managerial

As a coach, Rodríguez managed his former playing club Saprissa during different stints in the 1970s and early 1980s. He won four national championships coaching Saprissa in the 1970s, to add to the several championships that he had won previously with the team as a player. Most significantly, he led unfashionable

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the 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 comprises the Puntarenas, Chacarita and El Roble districts. A ...

to the 1986 league title. As of August 2013, he had coached 683 matches and won 6 Costa Rican league games. In 1988, he coached Costa Rica's national squad, guiding the team to its first World Cup qualification. Despite such success, he did not coach the team during the 1990 World Cup finals, as

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, India, a village in Punjab, India * Borá, a city in the São Paulo state in Brazil * Bo ...

was assigned that duty by the

Costa Rican Football Federation The Costa Rican Football Federation (, FCRF), also known as FEDEFUTBOL or FEDEFUT, is the official association football governing body in Costa Rica and is in charge of the Costa Rica national football team and the Costa Rica women's national fo ...

. Later, Rodríguez coached

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

and Xelajú in Guatemala, winning the national league title with each team as well.

Personal life

Rodríguez was married to Flor de María Vega Durán until his death and they had 4 children together.

Death

Rodríguez died on 16 October 2017.Muere técnico que llevó a la Sele a Italia 1990

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Marvin 1934 births 2017 deaths Footballers from San José, Costa Rica Men's association football midfielders Costa Rican men's footballers Costa Rica men's international footballers Deportivo Saprissa players Liga Deportiva Alajuelense footballers C.S.D. Municipal players Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Guatemala Costa Rican football managers Costa Rican expatriate football managers C.S.D. Municipal managers Deportivo Saprissa managers C.S. Herediano managers Real C.D. España managers C.D. FAS managers Liga FPD players Costa Rica national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Guatemala Expatriate football managers in Honduras Expatriate football managers in El Salvador Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in El Salvador Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Honduras Aurora F.C. managers