Costa Rica v Panama

Costa Rica vs Panama Preview

The night time kick-off in Group C sees the other two nations pit their wits against each other as group favourites, Costa Rica and Panama, go head-to-head at the DRV PNK Stadium but both sides will be very careful not to lose this opening game in the group as they look to take their chances against the perceived lesser opposition in the shape of El Salvador and Martinique.

In a strong and highly competitive Group E in last year's World Cup, Costa Rica actually finished bottom of the group despite recording a 1-0 win over the eventual group winners, Japan, but defeats either side of that victory to Spain 7-0 and a 4-2 loss to Germany prevented them from progressing into the knockout round.

Recent results have seen a decline in form for Costa Rica as they have lost five of their last seven matches in all competitions, while also losing their last three games on the trot with defeats incurred against Panama (1-0), Guatemala and Ecuador, the latter two being warm-up games ahead of the Gold Cup.

Six of Costa Rica's last 12 matches overall have resulted in Under 2.5 goals as well.

Panama failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar last year so Thomas Christiansen's side had to make do with a string of international friendlies to keep them fresh but these games failed to yield many wins as Panama managed to record just two victories from their last 10 matches in all competitions.

Although they picked up wins against Costa Rica (in the Nations League) and Nicaragua (friendly), they also slipped to four defeats as well, losing to Qatar, Argentina, Canada and Mexico, the latter two losses also being in the Nations League in the semi-final and third place play-off respectively.

Interestingly, seven of Panama's last 10 matches have also resulted in Under 2.5 goals being scored and with this upcoming fixture being against main rivals, Costa Rica, the prospect of a low-scoring encounter looks fairly likely on Monday night.

Costa Rica v Panama Verdict

If previous meetings between Costa Rica and Panama are anything to go by, then we could be in for a tightly fought but ultimately low-scoring encounter at the DRV PNK Stadium on Monday night as nine of the previous 10 meetings between these two nations have resulted in Under 2.5 goals.

With both pre-tournament group favourites meeting each other in this opening round of games in Group C, this could unfold into a rather cagey affair.

Therefore, our main bet will be Under 2.5 goals @ 1.54

Other side bets worth considering:

Draw @ 2.87

Correct score: 1-1 @ 6.50