As they have often done in the past, Spain qualified for this World Cup with a lot of ease, and also find themselves the clear favourites heading into this encounter. But they still have to go on and prove it on the field when they take on a confident Costa Rica side, at the Al Thumama Stadium on Wednesday.
To Win
Spain 1/6 | Draw 11/2 | Costa Rica 14/1
Spain, ranked as the seventh-best team in the world, come into this fixture having won three of their last five matches, including a 1-0 victory over Portugal.
However, La Roja no longer have the absolute quality and depth of character to match the era of three consecutive tournament wins from 2008 to 2012. More so, they lack an absolute finisher – a goalscoring machine and a handful of players with the wisdom and skill to break down tough defences. Granted, they have the likes of Ansu Fati, Alvaro Morata and Ferran Torres, but the squad is need of an in-form, out-and-out striker (a David Villa) who will be on the receiving end of the kind of passes which once flowed from Xavi and Andres Iniesta.
The Spaniards will be looking to invoke the team spirit which saw them win everything in 2010, including the World Cup here in South Africa. And while it goes without saying that they are on another tier compared to Costa Rica, they should not underestimate the Los Ticos defence.
Costa Rica have won three of their last five encounters, beating Uzbekistan by 2-1 in their last outing. And much like Japan, they too will be eager to make an early impact in this tournament’s ‘Group of Death’.
Considering the amount of talent they will be up against, Costa Rica will be more than happy to put numbers behind the ball and protect their goal. Coached by Luis Fernando Suarez who will lead a third different nation of his career into the World Cup finals, we can expect to see a very defensive approach with long passes and breaking on the counter attacks from Los Ticos.
The strength of Costa Rica lies in their defence, more precisely between the sticks. Keylor Navas has been central to their road to this World Cup. His command of his backline means that they are an incredibly difficult opponent to break down, often forcing opponents take their chances with low-quality shots that miss the target or end up in his hands. One would go on to say that they wouldn’t have made it to the tournament without the PSG man.
Prediction: Spain + Over 2.5 Goals (13/20)
You can expect La Roja to start the tournament off with a solid win. They’ll be looking for all the points they can find with Germany being a threat to win Group E.
