Mexico v Costa Rica

Mexico vs Costa Rica Preview

Mexico will be eager to set the record straight in the second of Saturday's quarter-final ties in the Gold Cup when they take on Costa Rica at the AT&T Stadium in the evening kick-off and to make sure they don't suffer another slip-up like they did in their final game of the group stage.

Mexico were heavily priced favourites to see off Qatar in the final game in Group B but the Mexicans were handed a shock 1-0 defeat by Qatar who went on to join Mexico through to the quarter-final stage of this competition.

Nevertheless, despite that great upset, Mexico have suffered just two defeats in their last 11 matches in all competitions on the international stage and includes six victories within this period as well, two of which were gained in Group B with comprehensive wins against Honduras 4-0 and Haiti 3-1.

In addition, seven of Mexico's last 11 matches have seen them score 2 goals or more which could be bad news for upcoming opponents, Costa Rica.

Costa Rica did just enough to progress through to the last eight of this year's Gold Cup but it wasn't until the final game of Group C that they secured their place after making a slow and sluggish start to their campaign.

An opening game 2-1 loss to Panama was followed by a disappointing 0-0 draw with El Salvador but Costa Rica really came to life in their final match, recording an emphatic 6-4 victory over Martinique and they'll be hoping they can bring that momentum into this upcoming clash with Mexico.

However, recent results suggest Costa Rica could well have their work cut out in this quarter-final as they have managed to capture just one win from their last six matches overall, a rather ordinary sequence of results that include four defeats within this sequence, with three of their last four matches overall resulting in Over 2.5 goals.

Losses to Panama, Guatemala, Ecuador and Panama again, underline the difficulties Costa Rica have had and they will be facing another tough assignment in the shape of Mexico on Saturday night.

Mexico v Costa Rica Verdict

It perhaps comes as no surprise that Mexico have held the upper hand over Costa Rica in previous exchanges with Mexico winning seven of the last nine meetings between these two nations and it's hard to see how Costa Rica can stem the flow of these defeats once again on Saturday.

We should see a fully-focused Mexico outfit here in what could be an entertaining quarter-final tie featuring a few goals but ultimately in Mexico's favour.

Therefore, our main bet will be Over 2.5 goals @ 1.66

Other side bets worth considering:

Mexico win & Over 2.5 goals @ 2.00

Correct score: Mexico 3-1 @ 11.00