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Joey - June 5, 2018
England vs Costa Rica
International Friendlies
Date: Thursday, 7th June 2018
Kick-Off at 20:00 UK / 21:00 CET
Venue: Elland Road, Leeds.
England kept the good form going stretching the run to nine subsequent games without a loss in all competitions when they dispatched African WC hopefuls Nigeria 2-1 on Saturday. The fans who visited Wembley could have enjoyed the magnificent first-half display from the Three Lions who went on the break with a two-goal cushion thanks to goals from Gary Cahill and Harry Kane.
Nevertheless, the second 45-minutes saw Southgate’s men falling down as they allowed the Super Eagles to pull one back through Alex Iwobi. Rohr’s side had more chances to even level the score later on, but the Englishmen managed to keep the advantage and clinch the victory until the end.
Next up for Southgate and his men are Costa Rica in what will be the final warm-up friendly before the World Cup kick off against Tunisia on June 18th.
The two teams met each other just once in the past.
The clash happened at the previous edition of the World Cup when Los Ticos managed to hold England to a goalless draw.
Costa Rica will head into the game with an improved confidence after trashing Northern Ireland 3-0 on Sunday. The achievement is greater if we know that Oscar Ramirez did not use his main stars Marco Urena and Cristian Bolanos who practically led the team towards the second-place finish in the final round of the CONCACAF WC Qualifications.
Los Ticos can be a tricky opposition to any side in the world which they best proved four years ago in Brazil when they went on to reach the quarterfinal against all odds. Ramirez’s men conceded just one goal in last three internationals against Scotland, Tunisia and Northern Ireland and their defensive line will no doubts be a huge test for the English squad here.
The bookies see England as 1.36 favourites to win the match. We completely disagree with such ratio expecting Los Ticos to offer a strong resistance in Leeds which is why the value definitely goes on to the visitors who are worth backing not to lose by two or more goals at the odds of 1.65. You can alternatively take the 2.00 odds for the Under 2.5 goals in the match bet.
