DC United’s José Ortiz scores 2 goals in debut start for Costa Rica

When news broke that José Ortiz was officially going on loan to DC United, there was some confusion where he would fit behind Patrick Mullins and Alhaji Kamara. But, after a strong debut with Costa Rica, there is more excitement than concern about his place in DC.

After weeks of speculation, DC United announced on December 18th, 2016, that they were bringing in José Guillermo Ortiz on loan from Alajuelense (a Costa Rican club). A 24 year old striker with 33 goals in 140 caps, he’s been described as an intelligent striker with great poaching instincts and a fantastic header, despite his 5 foot 8 inches height.

DC United, though, found great success with Patrick Mullins in his debut season with the club, and Alhaji Kamara played well in his extremely limited minutes. While a third striker option was needed, there was some concern by fans if Ortiz would be battling for a second spot or if he even had the track record to overtake Kamara (who granted, does have an unfortunate history of injuries and a heart condition).

To the glee and surprise of many, though, Ortiz was called up by Costa Rica, this winter, for the Copa Centroamericana, a tournament between Central American Teams (learn more here!).

This afternoon, in a match against Belize, Ortiz was given his first start for Costa Rica and showed his pace, poaching abilities, and heading ability with 2 goals in his debut.

See Ortiz’s first goal below:

Here Ortiz shows his instinct and heading ability, something which will surely be useful for DC United when balls are whipped into the box by wingers Sam, Nyarko, or even Neagle. It’s not difficult to imagine him acting as a target striker either if Acosta needs to lob the ball down the field.

See Ortiz’s second goal below:

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Again, a powerful header from Ortiz shows some promise which DC United should definitely benefit from in the 2017 season.

While Ortiz’s heading ability is extraordinary, he also showed some skill inside the box in setting up another goal for teammate Venegas (another MLS player), seen below:

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As far as first caps go for a National Team go, Ortiz’s debut was fantastic. While the sample size here is small, DCU fans should be excited for him to enter training camp and fight for a spot on the starting XI.

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