The Costa Rica National Football team was part of the CONCACAF qualifiers. As they were part of the top 5 ranked teams in the CONCACAF region, they received an automatic qualification to the next round, which is the 3rd round of the Qualifiers. Eight teams were to fight it out to qualify for the World Cup. The top three teams were granted automatic qualification. The fourth team will have to go through an intercontinental playoff, which would mean qualification for the World Cup finals. Other teams in this group were – Canada, Mexico, the United States, Panama, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Honduras.
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Costa Rica team qualification overview
Having drawn automatically to the third round because of a higher ranking, the Costa Rica team was one of the favourites to go ahead. The round-robin-style campaign went ahead, with each team playing a total of 14 games. Costa Rica National Football Team had a good overall defensive record in the qualifiers conceding only 8 goals in 14 matches. This was the second-best defensive record in the group. But scoring goals is where they faced difficulty. Costa Rica finished 4th in the third round, equal on points with the US. The US qualified automatically because of a better goal difference than the Costa Rica team.
After coming in 4th, their hopes of qualifying were still alive. They just had to go past the challenge of the Kiwis. Costa Rica qualified for the FIFA World Cup after beating New Zealand in the final intercontinental play-off match. They were favourites going into this match vs the Kiwis. New Zealand played well and had control of the match but couldn’t convert it into goals. The Costa Rica National Football team went ahead early on and stayed that way until the final whistle. Costa Rica is drawn into Group E, Spain, Japan, and Germany.
Strengths and weaknesses of the Costa Rica football team
Defence is one of the most vital aspects of Costa Rica. In the qualification campaign, they had a perfect defensive record. Costa Rica only conceded 8 goals in the 14 matches. Keylor Navas hopes to take the same form into the World Cup finals.
The team has some well-experienced players playing front former Arsenal players Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz. Apart from that, the team doesn’t have much depth in the midfield. Goalscoring is something that Costa Rica will have to work on as Germany, Spain, and Japan will provide them with formidable challenges.
The Costa Rica football team’s key players
Joel Campbell, who has 7 caps for Costa Rica, will be one of the main men going forward. Bryan Ruiz, the former Fulham player, dictates the tempo of the game. Oviedo and Duarte combine to make a formidable partnership at the back.
Costa Rica national football team players to watch out for
Although Costa Rica is not the favourite compared to some other heavy-weights, they do have the players and the ability to make a good showing of themselves. Even in the 2014 World Cup, they had a remarkable run beating Italy, England, and Uruguay on their way to the quarter-finals. Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz played starring roles in 2014. With a ton of experience under their belt, it will be interesting to see how they perform.
Keylor Navas has been the reliable man between the sticks for Costa Rica for a while now. He has struggled for playing time in PSG but is reliable whenever called upon.
How to watch the Qatar world cup 2022 on TV?
The upcoming world cup is one of the most anticipated sporting events this year. In December, Qatar will play host to one of the world’s grandest sporting spectacles. Fans from all over the world can catch the action on their TV sets as well. Different companies have taken over the streaming rights. Sony Sports Network will stream the matches in the Indian subcontinent. Users will also have the option to stream it through Sony’s OTT platform – Sony Liv.
Costa Rica’s football TV streaming in the US can be streamed through Telemundo and Fox sports. Al Jazeera and BeIn Sports will cover the MENA region. We have curated a list of the sports streaming services below.
Country | Channel |
Indian Subcontinent | |
United Kingdom | |
USA | |
MENA Region | |
Russia | |
Qatar | 2Sport2 |
Greece | |
Italy | |
Spain | |
Brazil | Globo |
China |
How to watch Costa Rica live football streaming?
Costa Rica matches live stream can be accessed by official live stream partners of the World Cup. The official partner will cover the matches in HD, in some cases(BBC iplayer) UHD too. There is a different option to stream the matches through online streaming websites. These sites are free of charge and stream matches from a multitude of sports.