The Costa Rican soccer team will host Mexico this Sunday in a match for the second date of the octagonal Concacaf final, which can rectify the route of the Ticos to Qatar 2022 or further channel that of the Aztecs.
Although only one match has been played in the World Cup qualifier, the outlook in Costa Rica is not encouraging after an insipid and suffered a zero draw against Panama on Thursday.
The Ticos showed little or nothing in attack and serious doubts in defense, reiterating evils that they have dragged on for almost two years, in which they only won three of the 17 games they played. They were all in the group stage of the recent gold Cup, before Suriname, Guadeloupe and Jamaica.
“We will have to fix things (…) Now we have home games and we will have to play them in a different way, especially in the offensive part,” said the Colombian coach from Costa Rica. Luis Fernando Suarez, who came to the bench on July 1 when the Ticos were running an 11-game winless streak.
“Now the rival and the place where we are going to play change a bit. We are aware that there is room for improvement,” said captain Celso Borges, new leader of matches with his team with 137.
An offensive Mexico
Meanwhile, although the Tri he defeated Jamaica in extremis with a goal at minute 89 in his qualifying debut, during the engagement he was clearly dominating and had multiple opportunities to score; however, it was not efficient in the network.
In addition, he enjoys being the only representative of the octagonal that obtained the victory on the first day, as the other three matches registered draws.
“The way we understand that the team should play is to always go out and win. Beyond a knockout and away game, there is no reason to modify the desire of the team to go out and find the game “, said the Argentine strategist, Gerardo Martino.
The ‘Tata’ He will not be on the Mexican bench in this match, as this Friday he underwent surgery for retinal detachment, which prevents him from traveling, as he himself confirmed Thursday night after the victory against Jamaica.
With public
The commitment will be disputed in the National Stadium, in the Costa Rican capital of Saint Joseph, at 5:05 p.m. local time (11:05 p.m. GMT) and in Mexico it can be seen at 6:00 p.m. It will have only 8.5% of its capacity (3,000 people), since the Ministry of Health of this Central American nation did not allow more accesses consequently to the regulations of protection against the Covid-19.
Costa Rica only beat Mexico once in the last 22 games and has eight commitments not to do so. The last time was in 2013, for the 2014 tie against Brazil, with a 2-1 victory on the same stage where they will meet this Sunday.
In those 22 games, dating back to 2001, Mexico he won 14 and there were seven draws.
However, Costa Rica has not lost at home in playoffs for 14 games, precisely since a slip against Mexico in 2012 (0-2).
The most recent confrontation between the two representatives took place in the semifinals of the Concacaf Nations League, where El Tri won on penalties, after a 0-0 in regulation time.
Possible lineups:
Costa Rica: Keylor Navas – Keysher Fuller, Óscar Duarte, Francisco Calvo, Bryan Oviedo – David Guzmán, Celso Borges, Bryan Ruiz, Ronald Matarrita – Joel Campbell, Manfred Ugalde. DT: Luis Fernando Suárez.
Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa – Jorge Sánchez, Néstor Araujo, César Montes, Jesús Gallardo – Edson Álvarez, Andrés Guardado, Sebastián Córdova, Uriel Antuna, Roberto Alvarado – Henry Martín. DT: Gerardo Martino.
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