Alajuelense Away football shirt 2000 - 2001

2000 - 2001 Alajuelense away football shirt. One of the away shirts used by Alajuelense during the 2000-01 season. It would later give way to an all-white number to be used on the later stages of the season.

This unbranded shirt (although it is suspected that it was made by Costa Rican kitmaker Arena Sport) was used for a few matches, both local and international. It was most famously used when Alajuelense had a heartbreak elimination by MLS side DC United on the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals played in the United States (the tournament itself was played on single-match elimination over the course of two weeks on quasi-neutral ground on early 2001) courtesy of a 90th minute penalty kick scored by DC. Alajuelense was looking forward on repeating the previous year's miracle run to the finals (in which they were beaten by Mexican side Necaxa). The 2001 tournament was won by Honduran powerhouse Olimpia, who also won the right to be the CONCACAF representative for the eventually cancelled Club World Cup.

Shirt #10 was used by Argentinean midfielder Pablo Alejandro Izaguirre who was in his second season with the club and was on a meteoric rise to fan favorite because of his quality of play. Izaguirre arrived to the club in mid-to-late 1999 after being sought after by the then-current gaffer Guilherme Farinha (Izaguirre was coached by the Portuguese boss in the Paraguayan club Cerro Corá). Izaguirre came in the heels of the dismissal of fellow countrymen Gustavo Largacha and Martín Montagna during the 1998-99 season, and had a rough start after being sent off shortly after coming in as a sub in a Clásico against Saprissa on 15 September 1999. It would appear that he would be one more player on a long list of Argentinean duds signed throughout Alajuelense history (him and fellow countryman Pablo Gabas would be the most recent exceptions to the rule); however Pablo bounced back from the ordeal and started scoring important goals, as well as wreaking havoc on opposition players. He lasted until the start of the 2005-06 season when he retired from professional play.