Enrique Rivers Gutiérrez (born 4 January 1961) became one of the most famous Costa Rican football players during the 1980s.

Club career

Rivers made his debut in the Costa Rica Primera División in 1978 with hometown club Limonense.

Enrique Rivers

He played most of his career with Saprissa, as well as for Comunicaciones in Guatemala and Herediano. He retired in 1993.

Enrique Rivers

International career

Rivers made his debut for Costa Rica in a March 1983 friendly match against Mexico and he is mostly remembered for scoring the goal against Italy's national team during the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. At that period of time, the Italians were the World Cup champions, and their defeat against Costa Rica was a historic event in the football world.

Enrique Rivers

His final international was a May 1989 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Trinidad & Tobago.

Managerial career

After retiring from professional football, Rivers was assistant to manager Alexandre Guimarães for five years at Belén, Herediano and Saprissa, where they won the 1998 and 1999 local championships. His first job in charge was at Limonense in 2000 and he was head coach of Deportivo Saprissa for a short period of time as well, but decided to focus on the coordinating tasks for Saprissa's minor league system, where he has been able to discover and recruit young kids and launch them into successful football careers. In December 2012 he was put in charge of Saprissa's reserve team, Saprissa de Corazón, in the second division.

References

1961 births

Living people

Sportspeople from Limón Province

Men's association football midfielders

Costa Rican men's footballers

Costa Rica men's international footballers

Olympic footballers for Costa Rica

Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics

Deportivo Saprissa players

Comunicaciones F.C. players

Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers

Expatriate men's footballers in Guatemala

Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala

Costa Rican football managers

Deportivo Saprissa managers

Deportivo Saprissa non-playing staff