Costa Rican Primera Division Returns to Action

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Football fans were delighted to hear of the return of the German Bundesliga and there is another football league which is about to resume. The 2019/20 Costa Rican Primera Division was suspended due to coronavirus on the advice of Health Minister Daniel Salas.

The final match was played on the 16th of March but the good news is the Costa Rican Primera Division is about to return.

Liga FPD will become the first football league in the Americas to start playing again following an enforced break because of coronavirus. The Nicaraguan league continued playing but the Costa Rican Primera Division will be the first in the region to resume playing and hopefully we will see others follow suit sooner rather than later.

Costa Rican federation president Julian Solano confirmed that play will resume behind closed doors on Wednesday, May 20. When the season was suspended, there were still 7 of the 22 rounds of regular season matches to play and that is where things will pick up. Similar to the Bundesliga, the Costa Rican Primera Division will be allowing five substitutions per game, instead of the usual three which had previously been in operation.

As things stand in the League table, Deportivo Saprissa lead the way and they have a 4 point gap over 2nd place Alajuelense, having each played 15 matches. Herediano are in 3rd place on 26 points, 7 adrift of the leaders while Jicaral are in 4th place on 22 points. Therefore, first place is likely to be contested between the top two teams, although Herediano will be hoping to have a say in the matter.

Herediano are the 2019 Apertura champions having finished third in the regular season so doing so again in the Clausura 2020 season is unlikely to faze them. However, they resume the campaign with a very tough fixture away against the current league leaders Deportivo Saprissa.

With Cartaginés in 5th place and hoping to move into the play off positions, Herediano cannot afford to drop many points. This is a great game to resume the season and we should see plenty of goals. Deportivo Saprissa are undefeated in their last 8 home league games while Herediano haven't lost any of their last 7 away matches. A draw and both teams to score seems a likely outcome from this match.

Second place Alajuelense travel to 5th place Cartaginés in another exciting game which will have an impact on the play off positions. Alajuelense will be hoping to take advantage of dropped points from the teams around them to either close in on 1st place or move clear of Herediano in 3rd place. Cartaginés will be tough opposition but Alajuelense are unbeaten in all of their last 11 matches against them, so should come out on top with over 2.5 goals scored in the game.

Guadalupe will be hoping to take advantage of their home fixture against Limón to improve their claims of a top four place. The remaining three matches could all be close and it wouldn't be a surprise to see each of them and level with both teams scoring.