Mexico hosts Costa Rica in round 10 of the third stage of the World Cup qualification. The match will be played on Monday, January 31st at Estadio Azteca (Mexico City)
The Mexican national team is on the 14th line in the FIFA rankings. In CONCACAF, only the USA national team is ranked higher. However, the Mexicans slightly lag behind their direct competitors in the qualification, taking only third place so far. Gerardo Martino's team has 17 points. The gap to the Americans is one point, and the leading Canadians broke away by two. The Mexicans periodically experienced problems in recent official matches. In the previous five games, they gained three wins and suffered two defeats. Most importantly, Mexico lost to direct competitors, the national teams of the USA and Canada. After those failures, El Tri managed to deal with Jamaica away (1-2). On average, the Mexicans score 1.6 goals and concede one goal per match.
| 2 x £10 Free Bet | Review | |||
| 100$-500$ for No Lose Free Bets | Review | |||
| 100% up to £200 | Review | |||
| Not available | Review |
The Costa Ricans are 49th in the FIFA ranking. In the North American zone, only three future hosts of the 2026 World Cup have higher positions. In the current qualifiers, Costa Rica is ranked fifth with 12 points after nine matches. The men of Luis Suarez have good chances of competing for the playoffs. Panama is ahead by only two points. It should be noted that Los Ticos participated in the last two World Cups and even reached the 1/4 finals in Brazil. But in this qualifying campaign, Costa Rica performs with varying degrees of success. The team gained three victories and suffered two defeats in five previous games. The Ticos failed to earn points in matches against the USA (2-1) and Canada (1-0), but then they beat Honduras (2-1) and direct competitor Panama (2-0.). On average, they score 1.2 goals and concede one goal per game.
Mexico has not lost to Costa Rica since 2013. And it has not given points to the Ticos since 2017. In the previous five official games, the Tricolors won four times, but only twice in regulation time. In the September qualifying game, they beat the Ticos away with a score of 0-1. Yes, Mexico is the favorite of the upcoming game. However, there is no reason to believe that Martino's men will beat their opponents with a large score. The Mexicans have experienced difficulties with gaining victories lately. And Costa Rica is a very unyielding team. We think that the visitors will offer decent resistance.
Prediction for the match: Costa Rica to win with +1.5 handicap
