At 7:00 Beijing time on January 31, the 10th round of the North American Division of the World Preliminary Round, Costa Rica played away to Mexico. In the whole game, Costa Rica was besieged, but the score was 0-0! This game changed the fate of team 3, and the United States actually accepted the gift in the air and held the second place in the standings.
Prior to this campaign, the United States had just lost 2-0 away to Canada, not only missing the top spot, but also being thrown away by four points by its rivals, and only one point ahead of Mexico. As long as Mexico can win Costa Rica in this round, it will be able to surpass the second place in the table.
Mexico is known as a Regular World Cup regular and is currently ranked 14th in the world and 2nd in North America, behind the United States. Costa Rica, on the other hand, is 43rd, and there is a clear gap in the strength of the two teams. The two sides met in the first leg when Costa Rica lost 1-0 and had not beaten Mexico in the World Cup in nine years. There is no doubt that Mexico's psychological advantages are also great.
Sitting at home, Mexico launched a tidal wave of attacks, leading 72%-28% of the ball and shooting 25-6! Costa Rica had less than 30% possession of the ball, but they built an extremely solid defensive line, allowing their opponents to shoot on target only once. Navas was even very free in front of goal, requiring only 1 save.
After 95 minutes of competition, Costa Rica drew 0-0 with Mexico and scored 1 point against their opponents, which was a complete uncompromising goal! The draw left Mexico out of second place in the table, while the United States relied on goal difference to hold the second place in the table, and the fate of the two teams was rewritten.
According to the rules of this World Preliminary Tournament, the top 3 in North America will directly advance to the World Cup, the 4th place will participate in the play-offs, the top 3 in the standings Canada, the United States and Mexico all have a promotion probability of more than 95%, while Panama also reached 70%, and Costa Rica, which is 4 points behind, is looked down upon, and their probability of entering the World Cup is only 11.7%.
Chinese fans are no strangers to Costa Rica, and in 2002 they participated in the World Cup with the national football team, and the two teams were divided into one group. In that match, Costa Rica beat the national football team 2-0 and did not play again in the next 20 years.
It is worth mentioning that Costa Rica reached the World Cup in 14 and 18 years, and once reached the top 8 of the World Cup, which is indeed an achievement that the national football team cannot reach.