Costa Rica calls up Marcos Ureña for March friendlies

Los Angeles Football Club forward Marcos Urena is the fifth member of the club to be called up to his national team for the upcoming international break.

Urena will join the Costa Rica national team for its upcoming friendlies against Scotland and Tunisia. The games will be used as tune-ups leading up to the Ticos’ trip to Russia for the 2018 World Cup.

In all, seven MLS players were called up to the Costa Rican team.

Ureña becomes the fifth member of LAFC to be called to international duties. Omar Gaber (Egypt), Carlos Vela (Mexico) along with Mark Anthony-Kaye and Dejan Jakovic (Canada) have already been summoned for international duty.

Ureña has had 60 appearances for Los Ticos since 2009. Over that time, he has found the back of the net 14 times – including a pair of braces against Guatemala in the 2011 Copa Centroamericana and Cuba in a 2011 friendly. He sat out of international play in 2012 and 2013, returning to the national team in 2014 for its run in the World Cup.

He scored in Costa Rica’s opening 3-1 win over Uruguay in Group D. That was the same year Los Ticos reached the World Cup quarterfinals, before losing to The Netherlands 4-3 on penalties.

Urena did not play in the 2015 Gold Cup, but did return to Concacaf World Cup qualification later that year.

Many Americans will remember Ureña for his brace he scored against the United States in World Cup qualifying in September 2017. The brace helped Costa Rica avenge a 2-0 loss to the U.S. in the Gold Cup semifinals earlier in the year.

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