Honduras and Costa Rica Meet in Huge Gold Cup Match
The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off this week and one of the biggest matches in the group stages sees Honduras meet Costa Rica.
The 12 qualifying teams have been split into three groups of four and Group A looks very exciting, with Honduras, Costa Rica, Canada and French Guiana battling it out for a place in the quarter-final.
With the top two teams and two best runners-up going through, there is slight margin for error for both Honduras and Chile but if either team has a desire to win the tournament, they will want to finish top. With United States and Mexico expected to finish top of their respective groups, the winner of Group A will want to avoid them in the quarter-final.
Honduras, who finished third in the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup won the recent UNCAF Nations Cup for the fourth time in their history. However, trends show form has taken a turn for the worst since that victory and Honduras have failed to win any of their last five matches, four of which have been in World Cup qualifying.
In fact, since playing in the UNCAF Nations Cup, Honduras have won only one of eight games, which was a 2-0 friendly victory against Nicaragua. Honduras have lost four and drawn three of their other seven games, including a 1-1 draw at home to Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying.
Defensively Honduras have struggled and kept one clean sheet in their last eight games, conceding a total of 18 goals at a rate of 2.25 goals per game.
Costa Rica come into this match in a much better mood than Honduras and are in a strong position to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Trends show they have lost just two of their last fifteen games in all competitions and have become a very difficult team to beat.
However, Costa Rica have only won one of their last seven games and have tasted defeat at the hands of Panama and Mexico. There have also been draws against Honduras and Panama in recent World Cup qualifying games, so things have not been going as well as they could be for Oscar Ramirez’s team.
Scoring goals have been a bit of problem for Costa Rica lately and they have scored just 4 goals in their previous seven games. This is a record which must improve if they are to challenge the United States and Mexico in this tournament.
Honduras are without midfielder Mario Martinez and defender Johnny Palacios for this tournament and rising star Rigoberto Rivas has decided to stay with his club Inter Milan.
Costa Rica will be without Keylor Navas in goal but otherwise have first choice regulars such as Joel Campbell, Bryan Ruiz, Bryan Oviedo and Cristian Gamboa available for selection.
This has the makings of a very tight game but Costa Rica will be hoping their defensive line will be strong enough to withstand anything Honduras can offer. With Honduras’ poor defensive record, Costa Rica should score at least one goal and win the match with under 2.5 goals scored.
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