Don’t lose touch
There have been World Cups when Costa Rica and Honduras have given neutral spectators, and especially their own supporters, a great deal of pleasure. Between 2002 and 2018, at least one of these two nations was always at a World Cup. In 2014 in Brazil, they even competed together. These teams are unlikely to turn over a new leaf in Qatar in 2022.
Both Costa Rica and Honduras are in danger of losing out in the final qualifying group of the CONCACAF zone in North and Central America. The top three teams in this group will book a direct ticket to Qatar. The USA, Mexico and Canada are in that group with 14 and 13 points respectively. Panama is in fourth place, the place for the international playoffs, and has eleven points.
The Cafeteros are fifth, but the gap to fourth is already five points. Honduras are a distant last with only three points after seven of 14 matchdays. So while the Hondurans have already lost touch, we wouldn’t make any predictions on a Costa Rican comeback ahead of the match between Costa Rica and Honduras either.
The home side desperately need a win to prevent the gap to fourth place from widening, and preferably to move a little closer to the top.
Costa Rica – Statistics & current form
It is impossible to overlook the fact that a change is inevitable for the Costa Rican team. Some of the current national players have already played in a few World Cups, but are now unmistakably getting on in years. The only problem is that a small football nation like Costa Rica does not produce talent on an assembly line.
Lost the ability to win
So they will probably have to forgo the World Cup in Qatar in order to gain new momentum, even if they are not writing off the title matches just yet. However, the Cafeteros have only won one of their last nine games and have failed to score six times. It is unlikely that Luis Fernando Suarez’s team will be able to close the gap on the qualification places.
The Costa Ricans visited Canada last weekend and suffered the expected defeat, even if the final score of 0-1 was perhaps a little closer than one might have expected. Still, it doesn’t sound like we need to play the odds on over-goals in the Costa Rica vs Honduras match.
It is almost a drama that the last remaining star of the Cafeteros, keeper Keylor Navas, will also be unavailable on Wednesday night. In addition, Cristian Gamboa, an acquaintance from the Bundesliga, will be missing. In addition, Giancarlo Gonzalez, David Guzman and Marco Urena are not in the line-up.
Predicted line-up of Costa Rica:
Moreira – Oviedo, Calvo, Duarte, Blanco – Bennette, Ruiz, Tejeda, Fuller, Campbell – Ortiz – Coach: Suarez
Last matches played by Costa Rica:
World Cup Qualifiers CONCACAF Finals
11/13 2021 – Canada 1 – 0 Costa Rica
10/14 2021 – USA 2 – 1 Costa Rica
10/11 2021 – Costa Rica 2 – 1 El Salvador
10/08 2021 – Honduras 0 – 0 Costa Rica
09/09 2021 – Costa Rica 1 – 1 Jamaica
Honduras – Statistics & current form
The Catrachos are naturally anything but satisfied with their performance in the World Cup qualifiers. So the federation pulled the ripcord in October and suspended coach Fabian Coito. Hernan Gomez is now the new strong man. The Colombian has already led his home country (1998), Ecuador (2002) and Panama (2018) to the World Cup. It would be a miracle, however, if he were to achieve this feat with Honduras.
The Catrachos’ winning streak
The team looks completely unsettled and it will take a while for the new coach to instil confidence back into his team. After nine games without a win, however, that is not surprising. The current record should hardly lead to a prediction of a win for the visitors between Costa Rica and Honduras.
Hernan Gomez can’t work magic either, and his debut as Honduran coach, against Panama of all teams, went awry. The Catrachos led 2-0 until the 77th minute after goals from Alberto Elis and Brayan Moya, but Honduras conceded three more goals in the final quarter of an hour and lost 3-2.
But the path seems to be the right one. This could mean that veteran Boniek Garcia might not return to the national team at all. Apart from the veteran, Roger Espinoza, the retired Andy Najar, Johnny Leveron, Ever Alvarado or Jerry Bengtson are missing. Maybe this is the room young talent needs to develop.
Predicted line-up of Honduras:
Lopez – Elvir, Figueroa, Melendez, Alvarez – Flores, Meija – Lopez, Lozano, Elis – Moya – Coach: Gomez
Last matches played by Honduras:
World Cup Qualifiers CONCACAF Finals
11/13 2021 – Honduras 2 – 3 Panama
10/14 2021 – Honduras 0 – 2 Jamaica
10/11 2021 – Mexico 3 – 0 Honduras
10/08 2021 – Honduras 0 – 0 Costa Rica
09/09 2021 – Honduras 1 – 4 USA
Costa Rica – Honduras Direct comparison / H2H balance
Only against El Salvador and Mexico has the team from Costa Rica crossed blades more often. To date, the Cafeteros and the Catrachos have played a total of 55 international matches. In the direct comparison, Costa Rica has only just come out on top with 17:15 victories. 21 games between these two rivals have ended in a draw.
With the exception of penalty shootouts in the CONCACAF Nations League this summer, the Hondurans have not won against Costa Rica in six matches. The first leg in the current qualifying campaign basically reflected the current state of both teams. They parted with a goalless draw in San Pedro Sula.
Costa Rica – Honduras tip
Honduras should already have missed the boat for the 2022 World Cup. Catching up on eight points seems impossible in their current condition. Costa Rica, on the other hand, have slightly better prospects but desperately need a win on Wednesday night. However, the Cafeteros have only managed one meagre victory in their last nine games.
For the Catrachos, things look even more meagre. Honduras have not won in nine games. Perhaps new coach Hernan Gomez will now be able to flip the switch and get his team back on track.
We rather think that the host Cafeteros will now try everything to not lose the connection. A win seems to be the only alternative. We think that only few goals will be scored and could imagine betting on sub-goals, but we have decided to play the odds on a home win between Costa Rica and Honduras.
