Costa Rica World Cup 2018
Costa Rica came through a tough CONCACAF qualifying process to book their place in Russia, and have been handed a draw in what could be this World Cup’s ‘Group of Death’.
History at the World Cup
Costa Rica have played at four previous World Cup finals, and achieved their best finish by reaching the Quarter Final in Brazil four years ago. That monumental achievement was bettered by the fact they topped a group containing Uruguay, Italy, and England. In the last 16, they beat Greece via a penalty shoot-out and were knocked out by Netherlands in the last eight via the same method.
It was a fantastic effort, following two previous group stage exits in 2002 and 2006. Their World Cup debut came in 1990, where they reached the last 16 before being beaten by Czechoslovakia.
- World Cup Finals Appearances – 4
- Previous Best Performance – Quarter Final
How they qualified
The Costa Rican national team came through an extremely tough qualifying process, and booked their place in Russia by finishing runners-up in the fifth round of the CONCACAF campaign. Entering qualifying at the first group stage, the fourth round, Costa Rica won five and drew one in a group against Panama, Jamaica, and Haiti.
The next stage was slightly harder for them, with Mexico, Honduras, USA, and Trinidad & Tobago, as well as Panama, in the group to decide who would qualify. Mexico ran away with the group, but Costa Rica more than held their own to finish five points behind the Mexicans in second place. This was despite the fact they failed to win any of their final three qualifying matches.
Coach/Manager
Oscar Ramirez was a successful player in his home country, playing for the top sides in Costa Rica and earning seventy-five caps for the national team. He played at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the first time Costa Rica had qualified for it, and was an extremely popular player among fans. As a manager, he has been in-charge of all but one of his former clubs and had a two-year spell as assistant for the national team. He became Costa Rica head coach in August 2015, and has helped steer them to another World Cup finals.
Star Players
The undoubted star of the Costa Rican national team is Bryan Ruiz.
The Sporting forward is captain and has earned over 100 caps for his country, playing a huge part in their run to the 2014 World Cup Quarter Final.
Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas is another stand-out star, who is known by football fans across the world.
Joel Campbell, on loan at Betis from Arsenal, is another player who played a pivotal role in the 2014 campaign.
Costa Rica World Cup 2018: Assessing Their Chances & Odds
Costa Rica have been drawn in what looks to be this World Cups group of death, alongside Brazil, Switzerland, and Serbia, and the bookmakers have them priced as the rank outsiders to go through.
Based on betting odds of 16/1 at Ladbrokes to win the group, 7/2 to qualify, and 1/5 to be eliminated at the group stage, the belief is that Costa Rica will make an early exit from this tournament.
However, their brilliant surprise run at the last World Cup cannot be ignored and it would be foolish to write them off as no-hopers here. If they can win their opener against Serbia, which will give the entire squad a morale boost, they will head into the second game against Brazil full of confidence and who knows what can happen from there.
Our Costa Rica World Cup Prediction
It looks likely, based on FIFA rankings and betting odds, that Costa Rica will finish bottom of their group. But, football isn’t played on paper and we believe they have the potential to cause a few surprises. They beat Italy and Uruguay at the last World Cup, and drew with England, so anything is possible. This group is far too difficult to predict, except for tipping Brazil to top it, but we would recommend punters to not write Costa Rica off and maybe have a little flutter on them advancing to the last-16.