José Rafael Meza

Early career in Costa Rica

Meza took an interest in football from a young age, after his father brought him a football at the age of five. Having played on the streets of Plaza Iglesias in Cartago, and earning an article in sports magazine Olimpia in 1933, he joined the academy of Ciclón Negro the following year. He joined top flight side Cartaginés, and was called up to the first team for the first time in 1937, at the age of sixteen, going on to make his debut against Herediano. After an unassuming first season, he faced Atlético Corrales in a match the following year, eventually rejecting an offer to move to the Venezuelan side. Having initially started as a right-midfielder, Meza was moved to centre-forward after the arrival of new club captain Raúl Pacheco in 1940. The same year, he made his first major mark in Costa Rican football; in the final of the 1940 Championship, Meza's two goals helped side side overcome a 2–0 scoreline against Herediano, as Cartaginés went on to win 4–3. Having finished as the league's top scorer in 1940 with seventeen goals, despite only playing in eight games due to injury, Meza caught the attention of Mexican side Club América, after playing against them in a match. Club América offered him a contract of $150 a month, a considerable amount for a footballer in the time, and having also played against them in a friendly, Argentinian club Estudiantes de La Plata also offered him a deal. Both these deals were cancelled after…

Meza first featured for Costa Rica at the 1941 CCCF Championship, hosted in San José, Costa Rica, where he finished top scorer with five goals and three goals against Panama and Curaçao, respectively. His next call up for the national team came ten years later, in the same competition, though he did not feature as his brother, Jaime, finished as one of the top scorers. Due to disciplinary issues, Meza, along with other members of the squad, was banned from the national team for two years, signalling an end to his international career.

International

International goals

Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Costa Rica goal.

Meza was born in Cartago, Costa Rica, to Rafaela Ivankovich Fernández, whose godparents were the parents of Costa Rican president Francisco Orlich Bolmarcich, and Francisco Meza Garci. His maternal grandparents were Nicolás Ivankovich Trojanovich, a Croat-Yugoslavian immigrant who arrived in Costa Rica in 1874, and Costa Rican Camila Fernández Ruíz. He married Lidia Montoya in 1941, and the pair had twelve children. He was the fifth of seven siblings, including fellow footballer Jaime Meza, who played alongside him in Costa Rica and Mexico.