Very hard game for the All Whites. Costa Rica is a tight defensive team, very disciplined, and quite able to keep the ball in midfield. They'd have had a much better shot against Panama. But against the Ticos, it's probably curtains.
Costa Rica called up an interesting roster for this game. They basically have their standard starting 11 (which is basically all 30+ year olds) and then a whole bunch of young guys with almost no experience. They better hope they don't have injury problems. I haven't followed Costa Rica particularly closely the past couple years, but this can't possibly be their strongest 28-man roster. They are missing basically an entire generation of players, and only included 1 MLS and 2 European based players. I think Costa Rica is in trouble, particularly because this is just a one-off game. If it was home and away, I would still lean towards Costa Rica. However, a bland venue in Qatar favors New Zealand. Despite the late run in qualifying, Costa Rica has a very vulnerable player pool, and I believe the Fed/Coach have chosen to make it even more vulnerable via their player selection. Costa Rica did not inspire confidence last night against Panama. I suspect the coach was experimenting a bit with the lineup, but that shouldn't make Costa Rica fans feel any better. Costa Rica started the game well, but Panama smothered them as time went on in an overall mediocre game. Ultimately, Costa Rica's young players weren't good enough to beat Panama over 90 minutes, and some of the older players possibly weren't ready to even play 90 minutes.. That said, it is really hard to judge what form New Zealand will be in...so what do I know? Costa Rica probably still has a shot to qualify.
This is the last hurrah of the aging Costa Rican Golden Generation. They lost in Panama without Navas and playing four at the back, not their usual five. While they're indeed in trouble, the main reason I think they'll win is that this is a particularly weak New Zealand. And it's also an aging team: Wood, Reid, Boxall, Rojas, Smith, Barbarouses, are all 30 or over.
My thing is...the biggest difference between Costa Rica and New Zealand is that Costa Rica likely left better options off their roster. (*edit not necessarily better than the golden generation players, but better than some others on the roster) Randall Leal, Allan Cruz, Luis Diaz, Ariel Lassiter are at best average MLS midfielders. However, are they really worse than Jewison Bennette, a 17 year old winger with 4 assists and 1goal in 30 professional appearances? I doubt it. Bennette might be the Costa Rican Christian Pulisic, but again...I doubt it If Costa Rica is trying to bring on the next generation, then where is Christopher Nunez (Greek Super League), or Manfred Ugalde (Twente)? Also, why is Costa Rica bringing four uncapped defenders, when they have perfectly serviceable MLS veterans they could call? I could be missing something, but this screams poor roster construction to me. They can't all be injured. Did MLS and European clubs refuse to release players for Costa Rica's extended training camp?
New Zealand (FIFA 101st and ELO 69th) lost 1-0 to Peru (FIFA 22nd and ELO 15th). Costa Rica is FIFA 31st and ELO 39th. Based on that, ELO gives New Zealand a much greater than chance than FIFA does. Peru's only goal was by a player on Benevento, who finished seventh in Serie B.
That the Kiwis are 101 in the FIFA ranking is a joke. They have few chances to play decent teams, so their cumulative points take a dive. Their Elo rating at 69 is closer to reality, but IMO they're a NT in the Top 50 (barely).
New Zealand has the highest ranking since they were 95th in June 2017. Normally they are in the 110s or 120s. Tuesday's game is at 9:00 P.M. local/2:00 P.M. USA Eastern. The winner will face Spain, then Japan, then Germany in Group E.
Costa Rica going to the WC on one goal scored off one shots total for the game would just sum up their whole 2022 campaign.
I think both VAR calls were tough, but correct*. The goal one a bit more problematic as the play was allowed to continue after the kiwi clearly gained an advantage by bringing Duarte down, and CR still could have cleared that ball. The red card I don't see how anyone can complain about, studs up into the ankle coming from behind, nowhere near the ball. * Then again, maybe I'm biased
My problem on the VAR...was that a clear and obvious error by the referee? You have the Costa Rica defender with the hand on the neck of the Kiwi attacker. Kiwi attacker falls to the turf from this contact and he reached out. You have plenty of contact and then a goal. For me, nothing about that play was clear and obvious.