England vs Costa Rica Preview

Gareth Southgate gave us a glimpse of how his team will be playing at the World Cup on Saturday when they faced Nigeria at Wembley.

The Three Lions emerged 2-1 victors thanks to an early goal from Gary Cahill and a second from Harry Kane, however, Nigeria did pull one back from the boots of Alex Iwobi in the second half.

This game could see a new lineup that is entirely different from that of Saturday as Jordan Henderson and fellow Champions League finalists, Trent Alexander-Arnold are expected to get a run out after being rested in their last game.

Harry Maguire, Danny Rose, and Marcus Rashford could all also be given chances to start.

This Costa Rican team will bring back bad memories for some of England’s team members as they played out a goalless draw at the last World Cup; a result that confirmed England’s elimination at the group stage for the first time since 1958.

The Costa Ricans come into this game after a 3-0 win over Northern Ireland, however, they don’t have the best recent form as they have won just two of their last eight games.

They have also lost four of their last five away from home and they face an England team that has not been beaten in almost a year.

These two teams’ only meeting was when they clashed and played out a goalless draw in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup.

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

England

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
D	England		1-1		Italy	27 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
W	Netherlands		0-1		England	23 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
D	England		0-0		Brazil	14 Nov, 2017	International Friendly
D	England		0-0		Germany	10 Nov, 2017	International Friendly
W	Lithuania		0-1		England	8 Oct, 2017	FIFA World Cup Qualifying – UEFA

Costa Rica

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
L	Tunisia		1-0		Costa Rica	27 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
W	Scotland		0-1		Costa Rica	23 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
L	Hungary		1-0		Costa Rica	14 Nov, 2017	International Friendly
L	Spain		5-0		Costa Rica	11 Nov, 2017	International Friendly
L	Panama		2-1		Costa Rica	11 Oct, 2017	FIFA World Cup Qualifying – CONCACAF

H2H