Costa Rica’s new national team boss Juan Luis Hernandez threw sporting niceties out of the window when he took over Aug. 25, promising to instil military discipline into his players and provoking his rival coaches. Hernandez, Costa Rica’s third coach this year, said players would live in virtual isolation after assembling for their next World Cup qualifying game ù against the United States in Portland, Ore., Sept. 7.ù and would be banned from drinking, sex and even shopping. “We will start work at six o’clock in the morning, at which time the players must be ready and kitted out for the start of practice,” he said, adding that the working day would finish at eight in the evening. Hernandez, whose task is to get the country to its second World Cup tournament, said: “I’m not going to ask them to sweat their shirts…. I’m going to demand they sweat blood.” Costa Rica has taken only one point and failed to score in its last two World Cup qualifiers and it was obvious that Hernandez saw lack of determination as the main cause. Ironically, military talk is usually unfashionable in the small Central American nation that abolished its army in 1948 and is viewed as an island of peace in one of the world’s more violent regions. The Spaniard, however, had no qualms about punctuating his discourse with the frequent use of words such as war, struggle and combat. He even appealed to the country’s media for secrecy, asking them not to leak information on the team’s tactics. Using an odd example, Hernandez said: “If they [the media] publish that I am going to the White House with a missile to kill President Bill Clinton, then the chances are that somebody will be expecting me.” Sporting rivalry towards Costa Rica’s opponents was also out of the question: “Tell [Mexico coach] Bora [Milutinovic] that we’re going to cut his head off, and [U.S. coach] Steve Sampson, who is a respectful and charming guy, that his team will lose to us,” he said. “He [Bora] likes to say hello and embrace everyone, like an uncle, like a husband, but on the field he is our worst enemy and should be treated as such,” he said. Costa Rica is second in the Hexagonal, from which the top three teams will go to France. However, only three points separate Costa Rica from the bottom team and it plays three of its last four games away. Hernandez claimed that the current squad had the potential to be the best in the country’s history, if the attitude was right. “If we don’t have discipline, dedication and sacrifice, we won’t get anywhere,” said Hernandez. “Up to this point, we are the team with the worst away record, alongside Canada. Away from home, we have achieved nothing,” he said.