Costa Rica and England will meet in their final group match in Group D at the FIFA World Cup 2014. The match will be played at Estadio Mineirao at Belo Horizonte on Tuesday, June 24.
The match will afford England an opportunity to salvage some pride as they head out of what has been a calamitous world cup campaign. For Costa Rica, the match represents a great opportunity to qualify as group winners having already secured qualification to the second round.
A draw will be enough for the Costa Ricans to qualify as group winners in Brazil as Jorge Luis Pinto’s side look to build on what has been an absolutely fantastic world cup so far for his team. Nobody expected Costa Rica to win matches, let alone qualify for the second round from a group which boasted three former world champions in Italy, Uruguay, and England. However, they have shown the world that they are no pushovers by becoming the first team to qualify from the Group of Death.
The Costa Ricans have been playing outstanding football at the world cup. They have been absolutely compact in defence and their attacking play is multi-dimensional with several players impressing in that role.
While Marco Urena, Joel Campbell, and Oscar Duarte were on target in their opening match against Uruguay, skipper Brian Ruiz rose to the occasion against the Italians. It would be wise to expect much of the same from this team as they continue to deliver the unexpected to enthralled football fans across the world.
England had begun the tournament playing good football although they lost to Italy in the opener. Although the Three Lions were brave enough and went on the attack against Italy, they ended up conceding a couple of goals which stung them.
The second match in the group stage saw England return to the drab old England of old as they could not play at a high tempo and failed to hit the highs that they did against Italy. Besides a goal from Wayne Rooney, who also struck the bar with a header from close range and put a free kick inches wide of goal, there was nothing much to praise.
Frank Lampard is set to captain England against Uruguay with Steven Gerard out of the frame. It is expected that Roy Hodgson will play a youthful squad against Uruguay with the likes of Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, and Chris Smalling given a chance to showcase their talents. Ross Barkley may also start from the beginning as England will try and entertain their fans before they bow out of the ongoing world cup.