Panama will travel to face Costa Rica at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica on Friday, with the hosts looking to improve their chances of qualifying for the World Cup 2022.
The visitors find themselves in the sole playoff spot, but level on points with Mexico who sit in the third and final automatic qualification place.
Costa Rica are sitting five points adrift of Panama who occupy the playoff place, and they could significantly boost their chances of sixth World Cup finals appearance with a victory on Friday.
Following consecutive defeats to United States and Canada, Costa Rica got their qualifying campaign back on track in their most recent match.
In their last fixture, Los Ticos played host to Honduras and netted the opener through Oscar Duarte before Rommel Quioto restored parity for the visistors.
Costa Rica’s aim on Friday will be to collect successive victories and having picked up seven of their nine points at home, Suarez will know the importance of securing a positive result against Panama if they are to qualify for their third consecutive World Cup finals.
Meanwhile, Panama are seeking to qualify for their second World Cup finals and with six qualifiers left to play, they can be pleased with their efforts so far.
Los Canaleros have picked up 14 points from their eight matches, with only a poorer goal difference keeping them out of the automatic qualification places.
Thomas Christiansen’s side picked up six of those points in the last round of qualifiers in November as they beat Honduras 3-2 before defeating El Salvador at home.
Only Mexico have collected more away points in the third round of qualifying than the six Panama have collected, and a positive result on Thursday would go a long way to confirm their place in the playoff spot.
Costa Rica vs Panama head to head
The pair have previously met on 47 occasions across all competitions, where Costa Rica have taken 26 victories while Panama have won 12, and they have drawn in 9. Costa Rica have scored 100 goals and conceded 38. They drew 0-0 in their last encounter in the World Cup Qualifiers.
Costa Rica 1-0 Panama 20/07/17
Panama 2-1 Costa Rica 11/10/17
Costa Rica 0-1 Panama 11/10/20
Costa Rica 0-1 Panama 14/10/20
Panama 0-0 Costa Rica 03/09/21
Costa Rica latest home form
Costa Rica have recently been on a relatively good form at home, having lost just two of their last five matches, and they have not lost in their last three. In their last five matches, they have won two, drawn one and lost two, scoring 5 goals and conceding 6.
Costa Rica 0-2 Canada 26/07/21
Costa Rica 0-1 Mexico 06/09/21
Costa Rica 1-1 Jamaica 09/09/21
Costa Rica 2-1 El Salvador 1/10/21
Costa Rica 2-1 Honduras 17/11/21
Costa Rica latest away form
Los Ticos have recently been on a relatively poor run of form away from home, having failed to win in any of their last five matches. They last away victory came 2-1 against Suriname in the Concacaf Gold Cup on July 17. They have drawn three and lost two of their last five matches.
El Salvador 0-0 Costa Rica 22/08/21
Panama 0-0 Costa Rica 03/09/21
Honduras 0-0 Costa Rica 08/10/21
United States 2-1 Costa Rica 14/10/21
Canada 1-0 Costa Rica 13/11/21
Panama latest home form
Panama have recently been on a good run of form at home, as they have not lost in any of their last five matches. They managed to defeat Grenada 3-1 on July 21 in the Concacaf Gold Cup. In their last five matches, they have scored 7 goals and conceded 3.
Panama 3-1 Grenada 27/07/21
Panama 0-0 Costa Rica 03/09/21
Panama 1-1 Mexico 09/09/21
Panama 1-0 United States 11/10/21
Panama 2-1 El Salvador 17/11/21
Panama latest away form
Los Canaleros have recently been on a relatively good form away from home, as they have lost just two of their last five away matches. They drew 1-1 with Peru in their last away match in a friendly match. They have won two, drawn one and lost two of their last five matches.
Jamaica 0-3 Panama 06/09/21
El Salvador 1-0 Panama 08/10/21
Canada 4-1 Panama 14/10/21
Honduras 2-3 Panama 13/11/21
Peru 1-1 Panama 17/01/22
Costa Rica news
Costa Rica will have to split their centre back partnership of Duarte and Francisco Calvo, with Duarte being unavailable due to an injury.
Jose Guillermo Ortiz is likely to lead the line for the Friday’s contest, while Kendall Waston or Juan Pablo Vargas are options for Suarez to replace Duarte.
Prediction and Odds
Costa Rica enter the Friday’s contest with confidence of having won their last two World Cup Qualifiers matches, and playing at home, they could be a tough challenge for Panama.
Panama have won three of the last five encounters between the two, and with that considered, we see the game ending level.
Odds: 1 2.45 X 2.05 2 2.20
Probable outcomes
Costa Rica 0-0 Panama
Costa Rica 1-1 Panama
Costa Rica 2-2 Panama
Costa Rica 1-2 Panama
Costa Rica 1-0 Panama
