Nobody expected Costa Rica to qualify for the knockout stage during the FIFA World Cup in 2018. They ended up winning their group, leaving nations like Uruguay, Italy, and England behind them. Can they do the same once again?
In 2014 Costa Rica won 3-1 against Uruguay, 1-0 against Italy and played 0-0 against England. Those are all brilliant results. In 2018 they will play against Serbia in their first match, followed by a match against Brazil, before the final match of the group stage will be played against Switzerland. All bookmakers believe that Brazil and Switzerland will win this group and qualify for the knockout stage, but Costa Rica surprised us four years ago… can they do it again?
Costa Rica looks strong in the preparation before the World Cup. They won 3-0 against Nothern Ireland, they just lost 2-0 against England, and they have one more friendly match coming up against Belgium before the tournament.
I just watched their game against England, and it was clear all the way that England has a stronger team than Costa Rica. But, so did Italy, Uruguay, and England during the 2014 tournament. Costa Rica doesn’t have the strongest team, but they have some good players, and they have a fantastic keeper in Keylor Navas. England won the match and they deserved the victory, but if Costa Rica had been luckier in some situations, they could have scored one goal or two, and the result would have looked much nicer to them. They were lucky in 2014, so without that necessary luck, they will not have a chance in 2018 either. That could be seen clearly during their match against England, and I believe that is what we will see in their friendly match against Belgium on June 11th as well.
Costa Rica will play against Serbia on June 11th. To read more about the match between Costa Rica and Serbia match, press the link. For a full day-to-day schedule for the FIFA World Cup, press the link.
