After being matched against Germany’s ‘coconut’ and an uncomfortable one like Japan, Spain’s third rival will emerge in the international playoffs between New Zealand and Costa Rica, two teams a priori affordable for the Red.
The best known to the Costa Rican team is undoubtedly its goalkeeper, ex-Madrid player Keylor Navas, who at the age of 35 is still at the foot of ‘Ticos’ canyon, of which he is also the captain. If it lands in Qatar, it will be the Central American team’s sixth World Cup participation, third in a row after reaching the round of 16 in 2014 and falling in the first round in 2018.
In addition to Navas, in the team led by Luis Fernando Suárez there are others who will not burn like Bryan Ruíz, Celso Borges or Johan Venegas.
There are only three precedents between Spain and Costa Rica, they are all friendly and have a record of two wins for the Red team and one draw. The last time they crossed paths was in Malaga in 2017, a duel that ended in a 5-0 win for the Spanish team.
New Zealand, for its third participation
The Oceania champion is aiming to reach his third participation in a final stage of a World Cup. They qualified for Spain 1982 and South Africa 2010, although in both cases they failed to get past the group stage. He has not even achieved victory in a World Cup.
There is only one precedent between Spain and New Zealand. It was in the 2009 Confederations Cup and the result was clearly 5-0 in favor of La Roja.
The main reference of the ‘kiwi’ is striker Chris Wood, for whom Newcastle paid Burnley 30 million euros in the market last winter.
Source: La Verdad
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