On 23 November 2010, Cruz participated in the 2011 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship qualification held in Guatemala. The first match took place against Nicaragua, which ended 4–0 in favor of the Costa Ricans. Later they faced Panama, but the scoreboard ended with a 1–0 defeat. The Costa Rican team obtained second place in the table and played the playoffs against El Salvador. The round-trip games ended 1-0 and 1-1, with the victory of the Salvadorans, but due to FIFA regulatory issues they were disqualified by fielding a player who was ineligible to represent that country. Therefore, the Costa Rican squad won the series with score of 3–0 in both games, and subsequently qualified for the regional tournament.