Live on ITV 1. Coverage starts at 15:10 (GMT). Presented by Laura Woods. Punditry from Eni Aluko, Gary Neville and Graeme Souness. Commentary from Clive Tyldesley and Lee Dixon.
Spain
Another big team that aren’t really fancied at this tournament, much like Germany in the same group. Russia 2018 was a bit of a disaster for them, losing to Russia on penalties was shocking. They were slightly better at the Euro’s losing to the eventual champions and they were better in the Nation’s League beating Portugal to the top of the group. From a City perspective, Laporte will start but Rodri is still behind Busquets in the pecking order.
As I said their recent form has been decent, they’ll need a good result in the opening game with tougher matches ahead:
Costa Rica
Costa Rica got to Qatar via the World Play-off. They finished 4th in Concacaf behind Canada, Mexico and USA. However, at one point they were well out of qualifying contention, but they surged late in the groups taking 19 points from a possible 21. Keylor Navas is probably their most recognised player, Joel Campbell still plays for them and so does 37 year old Bryan Ruiz, who captains them.
As I said, their form this year has been good but the opposition hasn’t been the best:
Spain
Another big team that aren’t really fancied at this tournament, much like Germany in the same group. Russia 2018 was a bit of a disaster for them, losing to Russia on penalties was shocking. They were slightly better at the Euro’s losing to the eventual champions and they were better in the Nation’s League beating Portugal to the top of the group. From a City perspective, Laporte will start but Rodri is still behind Busquets in the pecking order.
As I said their recent form has been decent, they’ll need a good result in the opening game with tougher matches ahead:
Costa Rica
Costa Rica got to Qatar via the World Play-off. They finished 4th in Concacaf behind Canada, Mexico and USA. However, at one point they were well out of qualifying contention, but they surged late in the groups taking 19 points from a possible 21. Keylor Navas is probably their most recognised player, Joel Campbell still plays for them and so does 37 year old Bryan Ruiz, who captains them.
As I said, their form this year has been good but the opposition hasn’t been the best: