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Daniela Solera Vega (born 21 July 1997) is a Costa Rican footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liga MX Femenil club Atlas and the Costa Rica women's national team.

Having started her career while at school in her home province, Solera then had highly successful stints in the Colombian Women's Football League that each facilitated moves to Europe. With the national team she has competed in several tournaments, notably participating in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Early life

Daniela Solera Vega was born in San Antonio, Alajuela, on 21 July 1997. Her older brothers first interested her in football, when she played with them at home. She preferred playing with boys, but was forbidden from playing on the school team over fears that they would hurt her; when one of the players was ill, Solera asked to play in his place. Even though she had not trained with them, she did play at school breaks, so the match went well and she continued. A year later she was given a trial for local team Alajuelense; the club asked which position she wanted to trial in, and she chose goalkeeping.

Club career

Solera began her career in Costa Rica, playing for Alajuelense in the Costa Rican Women's Premier Division from the age of 12 until she was 19. At this point, she considered quitting due to the lack of professionalism making football a non-viable career, and for having to travel extensively by bus and on foot to reach the training grounds. However, she received an offer to join Atlético Huila in Colombia, and she played there in 2017–2018. With Huila she became the first Costa Rican player of any gender to win a Copa Libertadores title, with the 2018 Copa Libertadores Femenina. They also came second in the Colombian Women's Football League.

Following her successful season at Huila, Solera received offers from Europe, and moved to play for KuPS Kuopio in Finland in 2019; surprised that she had been able to make this step so young, she took the experience as a form of training. She was then about to sign for a team in Belgium before Diego Perdomo, the former boss of Huila, asked her to return to Colombia to play in his new team, Independiente Santa Fe. Not attracted to the deal she was offered in Belgium, and preferring to be closer to Costa Rica, she accepted. In 2021 she was named the best goalkeeper in the Colombian league for the previous season.

Her success in Colombia was again followed by a move to Europe, where she played for Santa Teresa CD in the Spanish Segunda Federación in the 2021–22 season, saying she was proud to be able to play there.

She then returned to Costa Rica to play for Sporting F.C.'s women's team; her signing was considered a great coup for Sporting. They lost to Solera's former club Alajuelense, the dominant team in Costa Rica, in the 2022 Clausura final by a single goal on aggregate after handing Alajuelense their first loss in a championship game. A month later, in January 2023, Sporting beat Alajuelense in the final of the Supercopa: decided by penalty shoot-out, Solera was described as Sporting's heroine.

International career

Solera played for Costa Rica at the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship, and won the silver with them at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games. She was part of the team that came fourth at the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship to see them qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Having been vital in the qualification, Solera made her World Cup debut for Costa Rica at the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand. They played their opening match on Solera's 26th birthday and though they lost 0–3 to Spain an ITV Sport commentator still noted that Solera would "have a showreel of saves" after the game, which included saving a Jennifer Hermoso penalty. Solera had the most touches of any Costa Rican player as the highly-ranked Spain took 46 shots (12 on goal) in the match; all three goals were scored in a period of six minutes, with the first being a Costa Rican defender's own goal off a cross that Solera had batted away.

References

1. ^ "Costa Rica". CONCACAF Women's Championship. CONCACAF. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
2. ^ "Daniela Solera: pasó de jugar descalza a quedar campeona de Copa Libertadores". ESPN (in Spanish). 31 March 2020. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
3. "Costa Rica - D. Solera - Profile with news, career statistics and history". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
4. ^ "La portera Daniela Solera, primer fichaje del Santa Teresa". Hoy.es (in Spanish). 17 July 2021. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
5. Steven Ramírez (25 March 2021). "Daniela Solera fue elegida la mejor guardameta del fútbol colombiano en el 2020". Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
6. "Daniela Solera regresa a Costa Rica para reforzar la portería de Sporting FC". everardoherrera.com. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
7. "Alajuelense amplía su dinastía en el fútbol femenino al lograr el tetracampeonato". ESPN.com.mx (in Spanish). 19 December 2022. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
8. "Leonas sacaron garras para ser tetracampeonas". La Nación (in Spanish). 19 December 2022. Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
9. "Sporting encontró en Daniela Solera a su heroína para ganar la Supercopa en penales ante Alajuelense". La Nación (in Spanish). 15 January 2023. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
10. "Costa Rica 3-0 Panama (6 Jul, 2022) Final Score". ESPN. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
11. "Costa Rica begin Women's World Cup with Spain rematch". ConcacafW. 19 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
12. "Costa Rica Women's World Cup 2023 squad: Who's in & who's out? | Goal.com UK". www.goal.com. 14 July 2023. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
13. Julián Malek (6 June 2023). "Costa Rica anuncia la convocatoria oficial para el Mundial Femenino 2023". Archived from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
14. ^ "HIGHLIGHTS - Spain v Costa Rica - 2023 Women's World Cup", ITV Sport, archived from the original on 24 July 2023, retrieved 24 July 2023
15. "How to watch Spain vs Costa Rica 🇪🇸🇨🇷". The Athletic. 21 July 2023. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
16. "Should Daniela Solera make a move to the Liberty A-League? | Dub at the Cup". KEEPUP. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
17. ^ Lowe, Sid (21 July 2023). "Brilliant Bonmatí leads way as Spain open with one-sided win over Costa Rica". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
18. "46 shots! Spain rise above the mutiny as Costa Rica goalkeeper Daniela Solera spares her side getting absolutely obliterated at Women's World Cup | Goal.com UK". www.goal.com. 21 July 2023. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
19. "Women's World Cup 2023 highlights: Spain shuts out Costa Rica, 3-0". FOX Sports. Archived from the original on 21 July 2023. Retrieved 21 July 2023.

External links

• Daniela Solera at Soccerway.com
• Daniela Solera at FBref.com
• Daniela Solera at Liga MX Femenil (archive) (in Spanish)

Costa Rica squads

v t e Costa Rica squad – 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship 1 Bermúdez 2 Guillén 3 Chinchilla 4 Benavides 5 Campos 6 C. Sánchez 7 Herrera 8 D. Cruz 9 G. Villalobos 10 S. Cruz 11 R. Rodríguez 12 L. Rodriguez 13 F. Villalobos 14 Barrantes 15 Granados 16 Alvarado 17 M. Salas 18 Solera 19 F. Sánchez 20 Acosta 23 Y. Salas Coach: Valverde v t e Costa Rica squad – 2022 CONCACAF W Championship fourth place 1 Bermúdez 2 Guillén 3 Coto 4 Benavides 5 del Campo 6 Sánchez 7 Herrera 8 D. Cruz 9 Venegas 10 S. Cruz 11 R. Rodríguez 12 L. Rodríguez 13 Valenciano 14 P. Chinchilla 15 Granados 16 Alvarado 17 Montero 18 Tapia 19 Salas 20 Villalobos 21 V. Chinchilla 22 Sandí 23 Solera Coach: Valverde v t e Costa Rica squad – 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup 1 Pérez 2 Guillén 3 Coto 4 Benavides 5 del Campo 6 Sánchez 7 Herrera 8 Campos 9 Salas 10 G. Villalobos 11 Rodríguez 12 Elizondo 13 Valenciano 14 Chinchilla 15 Granados 16 Alvarado 17 Varela 18 Tapia 19 Pinell 20 F. Villalobos 21 Scott 22 Estrada 23 Solera Coach: Valverde v t e Costa Rica squad – 2024 CONCACAF W Gold Cup 1 Bermúdez 2 Guillén 3 González 4 Benavides 5 del Campo 6 Flores 7 M. Herrera 8 Cruz 9 Salas 10 G. Villalobos 11 Rodríguez 12 Elizondo 13 Valenciano 14 Chinchilla 15 Blanco 16 Corrales 17 A. Herrera 18 Díaz 19 Pinell 20 F. Villalobos 21 Scott 22 Campos 23 Solera Coach: Rubido

• 1997 births
• Living people
• Costa Rican women's footballers
• Liga MX Femenil players
• Costa Rica women's international footballers
• Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Spain
• Expatriate women's footballers in Spain
• Expatriate women's footballers in Mexico
• Women's association football goalkeepers
• Footballers from Alajuela
• 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players
• Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Colombia