Costa Rica World Cup qualifying roster includes Jose Ortiz

Two D.C. United players have been called up for their respective national teams for the upcoming FIFA international dates, with Jose Ortiz joining Costa Rica for their World Cup Qualifiers, and Maxim Tissot headed to Europe to play with Canada against Scotland.

Ortiz, who joined the Black-and-Red in January, is getting his first shot at playing during World Cup qualifying. The 24-year-old striker earned his first caps this January, when he played in four of Costa Rica’s five games at the Copa Centroamericana. With their result in that tournament, Costa Rica qualified for this summer’s Gold Cup. In four games, Ortiz scored two goals, both coming against Belize in their second game of the tournament.

Costa Rica are currently top of the Hexagonal, and are the only team to have won both of their opening games. They face two straight away games in this window though: on March 24th, they head to Mexico to play at Estadio Azteca, before facing Honduras in San Pedro Sula.

In addition to Ortiz, Tissot will look to add to his twelve Canadian caps as the The Canucks head to Edinburgh to take on Scotland. Tissot, who officially joined United in February, has played in the last four games for Canada, all friendlies. Under Benito Floro, Tissot featured mainly as a left winger. But after Canada’s failure to move on to the Hexagonal last year, interim head coach Michael Findlay has played Tissot as a left back.

Canada also officially announced their next coach today, welcoming Octavio Zambrano to the helm up north. Zambrano, an Ecuadorian, has plenty of regional experience, having managed the LA Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls (when they were the Metrostars), in addition to a stint as an assistant manager with Sporting Kansas City.