Costa Rica national soccer team star killed in car crash

Dennis Marshall, a member of Costa Rica’s national soccer team, died Thursday afternoon in a car accident, Traffic Police confirmed. He was 25.

A woman traveling with Marshall, reported to be his wife, was also killed when their car collided head-on with a truck.

The accident occurred on the Braulio Carrillo Highway that connects the capital to Limón on the Caribbean coast. Marshall, a native of Limón, played for a club in Denmark and also recently was a member of Herediano, a local club team in Heredia, north of the capital.

Marshall scored Costa Rica’s lone goal in the team’s shootout loss to Honduras in the Gold Cup quarterfinals last Saturday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The ponytailed defender headed in a corner kick from Christian Bolaños to tie the game at one goal apiece. Honduras later won the match on penalty kicks, 4-2.

“He was a young boy, a boy with much to come in the future, loved for his personality, his character,” said Ricardo La Volpe, the national team’s head coach, who spoke with reporters shortly after the accident. “These are blows in life that you need to try to overcome.”

Marshall, La Volpe and the rest of the team returned earlier this week from the United States after Honduras eliminated the Ticos from the Concacaf Gold Cup tournament.

“I can’t even imagine it,” La Volpe said. “I was with him a short time ago, and we were enjoying ourselves.”

Tico Times freelancer Alex Leff contributed to this report.