The Costa Rican team will receive this Wednesday, with the urgency of winning and not yielding more points at home, to the bottom line Jamaica in a match corresponding to the third day of the octagonal final of the Concacaf towards the World Cup in Qatar 2022.
The game will be played at the San José National Stadium at 7:00 p.m. local time (1:00 GMT on Thursday) with a capacity allowed for 3,000 fans (8.5% of capacity) as a preventive measure against the covid-19 pandemic.
Costa Rica, led by Colombian coach Luis Fernando Suárez, drew 0-0 in Panama and fell at home to Mexico 0-1 in the first two days, so it cannot afford to give up more points and fall behind in the standings .
The most urgent issue to be resolved for Costa Rica is the offensive flow, since the scarce creation in the midfield has meant that the team has not finished directly at the frame in Panama and at home against Mexico it only tried two shots.
“We need depth”, Luis Fernando Suárez has acknowledged after the first two days of the tie, a problem that he hopes to solve with Joel Campbell, who did not play in Panama and only played 45 minutes against Mexico because he has been recovering from a sprained ankle.
Campbell is the main offensive figure in Costa Rica and on whom the hopes of bringing danger to the rival area fall, while in the goal, the goalkeeper of PSG Keylor Navas, is a guarantee that he avoided greater damage in the two previous games.
They are joined by midfielder Celso Borges and ’10’ Bryan Ruiz, experienced World Cup players in Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, who have carried the weight of the team in the center of the field before the low level shown by the young people called to command a replacement generational.
Without much margin of error for the closing of this triple elimination round in September, Suárez will have to use the experienced players to seek the victory over Jamaica and end with a 4-point income that will keep him with a good chance of continuing to fight to qualify for the World.
Jamaica has started this month with many problems for the call due to the refusal of the English Premier League to give footballers to travel to countries that are on its red list of covid-19 infections.
After playing a worthy game in which they narrowly drew Mexico at the Azteca Stadium (2-1), Jamaica lost 0-3 at home to Panama.
The Caribbeans aspire to get at least one point in Costa Rica so as not to go blank on this triple day in September.
Added to the problems for the call was that Kemar Lawrence and Norman Campbell did not have an entry visa to Costa Rica, a problem that after hours of waiting was solved with the collaboration of the Costa Rican Government.
Probable lineups
Costa Rica: Ricardo Blanco, Francisco Calvo, Óscar Duarte, Ronald Matarrita; Celso Borges, David Guzmán, Bryan Ruiz; Joel Campbell, Randall Leal and Jonathan Moya.
Coach: Luis Fernando Suárez
Jamaica: Andre Blake; Damion Lowe, Adrian Mariappa, Kemar Lawrence, Alvas Powell; Anthony Grant, Devon Williams, Norman Campbell, Romario Williams; Shamar Nicholson and Cory Burke.
Selector: Theodore Whitmore
Referee: Canadian Drew Fisher.
Stadium: National of San José.
Hour: 7:00 PM EFE (HN).