Costa Rica Aims At World Cup In Second Round
Costa Rica coach Alexandre Guimaraes said that his goal is to qualify for the second round of the 2006 Germany World Cup soccer finals, in an interview Tuesday.

"Our options are open. We are neither bigger nor smaller than Poland and Ecuador," Guimaraes said.

Costa Rica is in group A with Germany, Poland and Ecuador. Costa Rica and Germany will play the first game of the competition, on June 9.

"After qualifying ahead of the United States, we came to a conclusion in the changing rooms: this is our second chance to do something transcendent," he said.

Costa Rica qualified on Oct. 8, beating the U.S. 3-0 in San José.

Brazilian trainer Guimaraes said that today's Costa Rican team is different to the one that took part in the previous World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan in 2002, although 10 of the players in the team are the same.

"When I made the selection again, I wanted to use the elimination system I had used before, but I realized that I couldn't. Several years had passed: several players were no longer available and others had changed their characteristics," he said.

He denied press reports that the team would be changed again before the World Cup.

"I would have to be off my head to be thinking of dramatic changes with five months to go before the Cup. But, yes, we have identified some positions where we could make some small changes", he said.