2018 World Cup Odds and Prediction: Costa Rica Team Betting Preview

A repeat performance likely isn’t in the cards despite Costa Rica’s incredible No. 25 world ranking – not with Brazil looking unbeatable and Serbia and Switzerland lurking as game opponents.

2018 World Cup Costa Rica Betting Odds

Odds to advance: +400

Odds to win World Cup: +30,000

World Cup wins: 5

Best result: Quarterfinals (2014)

FIFA World Ranking: 25

Manager: Oscar Ramirez

Captain: Bryan Ruiz

Costa Rica Players to Watch

Bryan Ruiz: That Ruiz is oddsmakers’ top choice to lead Costa Rica in goals at the World Cup (+350) says volumes about the difficulty this team will likely face in producing offence. While Ruiz is a capable midfielder, he has just 23 goals through 101 international appearances – including three in World Cup qualifying – and is getting -110 for over 0.5 goals in Russia.

Joel Campbell: While Campbell hasn’t produced many goals in his international career, he enters the World Cup on a roll; he scored once and his two corner kicks led to two other goals in Costa Rica’s 3-0 rout of Northern Ireland over the weekend. He’s getting +400 to lead Costa Rica in scoring – and the way he’s playing, that could be a sneaky strong option.

Keylor Navas: Fresh off leading Real Madrid to the Champions League title, much will be expected of one of the top goalkeepers in the world. Navas is certainly capable of stealing a game on his own, and he’ll no doubt be aided by a stout defence and a formation that reduces opponent scoring chances. If Navas is on, the under is a strong play throughout the World Cup.

World Cup Formation and Projected Starting 11

 Formation: 5-4-1

Projected Starting 11: Keylor Navas; Cristian Gamboa, Johnny Acosta, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Oscar Duarte, Bryan Oviedo; Celso Borges, Bryan Ruiz, Daniel Colindres, Joel Campbell; Marco Urena

Costa Rica Strengths

Ramirez’s unit will focus heavily on the counterattack – and that means prioritizing the back end, where Gonzalez and Acosta lead a capable five-man unit. That approach, combined with Navas’ magic, should keep the Costa Ricans in most of their games in Russia. Look for Costa Rica to take advantage of opponent miscues to generate the majority of their scoring chances – and if they get a lead, they’re a great bet to hold on to it.

Costa Rica Weaknesses

Where will the goals come from? Costa Rica scored just 14 times in 10 games in the final round of World Cup qualifying, and could struggle to do much against a trio of fundamentally sound opponents in Group E play. Oddsmakers agree, having made Costa Rica a +1,000 option to finish as the lowest-scoring team in the tournament – ahead of only two other countries. If they can’t produce, it won’t matter how good Navas is.

Costa Rica News

 Navas was presented with a golden glove trophy by the Costa Rican Soccer Federation prior to the win over Northern Ireland, then played just 30 minutes before giving way to backup Leonel Moreira. Navas has been linked to Chelsea after all-world goalkeeper Thibault Curtois said he wouldn’t negotiate a new deal with the Blues, and a solid performance for Costa Rica could be just what Navas needs to convince Chelsea to pull the trigger.

Costa Rica Betting Prediction

Between their stunning performance four years ago and their hum-drum offensive showing at the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament, it’s safe to say that Costa Rica has one of the widest ranges of potential outcomes of any team in the tournament. They’ll be one of the toughest teams at the World Cup when they get a lead – but the burning question is, how will they get ahead in the first place?

The good news is, oddsmakers’ skepticism has created a profit for World Cup betting opportunities if Campbell is on form, and Navas remains elite. Picking the Costa Ricans to reach the Round of 16 will net you +400 odds – and should they repeat their success from a year ago and get to the quarterfinals, you’ll get +2,000. While the latter might be a bit too much to ask, this team is good enough to qualify out of Group E – even if they don’t score a bunch of goals in the process.