Costa Rica's national soccer team reached the Pacific beach town of Cochal, in Guanacaste province, 200 kms east of San Jose, at noon on Tuesday to begin the first stage of their World Cup preparation, local media said.

Costa Rica manager Alexandre Guimaraes has to eliminate one player from the shortlist of 24 by Monday, when the chosen 23 players will travel to Germany.

"This place will allow us to develop our plans without problems, or haste," Brazilian-born Guimaraes told media. "The players will rest and at five we will have our first training session. We will emphasise physical preparation in these first days," he said.

Starting Wednesday, the players will have three training sessions a day, before the slimmed down squad travels to Lahr, Germany.

Once in Germany the team will play a series of friendlies: against a team from Germany's Bundesliga on May 20, against a Catalan team in Barcelona on May 24, against Ukraine in Kiev on May 28 and against the Czech Republic in Jablonec on May 30.

Costa Rica will play their World Cup's opener against hosts Germany on June 9 in Munich. Their other rivals in Group A are Ecuador and Poland.

Source: Xinhua