New England Revolution defender Gabriel Badilla has been called up to the Costa Rica National Team for its two 2010 World Cup Qualifying matches next week against Suriname and Haiti.

Badilla will be available for tonight’s CONCACAF Champions League match against Joe Public FC, and will join the Costa Rica National Team on Wednesday, Sept. 3. He is expected to be unavailable for the Revolution’s match at Columbus on Saturday, Sept. 6 and for the Revs’ home match against Chivas USA on Thursday, Sept. 11.

Costa Rica hosts Suriname on Saturday, Sept. 6, before traveling to Haiti on Wednesday, Sept. 10. Costa Rica is currently atop its four-team group in CONCACAF qualifying with three points following the team’s 1-0 victory over El Salvador on Aug. 20.

Badilla has 12 caps with the Costa Rica National Team and was a member of the country’s squad at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. In 2001, he captained Costa Rica’s entry at the FIFA Under-17 World Championship.

The Revs will return to action tonight, when they host Trinidad’s Joe Public FC in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League preliminary-round series at Gillette Stadium. Joe Public leads the two-game, total-goals series on aggregate, 2-1, but the Revolution currently holds the first tiebreaker after scoring a crucial away goal in the opening leg in Trinidad. The match – which will determine which of the two teams advances to the tournament’s group stage – will be televised nationally on Fox Soccer Channel at 8 p.m.

New England will return to MLS regular-season action on Saturday, Sept. 6, when the club visits the Columbus Crew in a crucial Eastern Conference showdown at 7:30 p.m. at Columbus Crew Stadium.