The qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup in North and Central America ends. Ahead of the final match between the representatives of the top 4 – Costa Rica and the United States.
Costa Rica looks excellent lately. The team has not lost since November:
5 wins and a draw with Mexico. The team takes 4th place in the North and Central America group. Most recent results: victory over El Salvador on March 28 and victory over group leader Canada. This is the first defeat of the Canadians in this qualifying tournament.
The US is even higher than the Costa Ricans, in second place. The Stars and Stripes lost to the same Canadians at the end of January (0:2). But other than that, they are great:
6 wins and 2 draws.
Ahead of the last tour in the group. Costa Rica will no longer be able to move Mexico from third place, but it will not be able to fall lower. The United States and Mexico have equal points; both teams receive direct tickets to the World Cup. So, the motivation for this match is questionable.
Costa Rica and the USA saw each other in the first round; the match turned out to be productive: 1:1 after the first half; as a result, Moreira’s own goal in the 66th minute decided everything, the USA took over.
Here, the probability of winning the guests is slightly higher – about 40%. Therefore, you can play P2 with a coefficient of 2.26. A draw is offered in the line for 3.14, and you can play on the home team for 3.5.
Bookmakers do not expect high performance from the match. You can play on TB (2) with a coefficient of 1.94. You can take TM (2) for 1.86.
Costa Rica is truly a grassroots team, with 11 goals scored in 13 matches and 8 goals conceded, less than one and a half goals per match. But the United States is a more productive team: 21 scored and 8 conceded in 13 games – 2.2 goals per match.
Despite the bookmakers’ opinion, it seems to me that there will be a productive match here. Firstly, the last time the teams played total more. Secondly, both teams are fine and will be able to play without regard to the result. And we saw that the USA just scored 5 goals against Panama, before that – 3 against Honduras. Costa Rica – also not a miss, scored against Canada, which almost does not miss. I think the teams will finish the qualifying tournament on a positive note.
I would risk playing Over (2) with odds of 1.94.