El Salvador v Costa Rica

El Salvador vs Costa Rica Preview

El Salvador were handed a slightly surprising 2-1 defeat in their opening game in Group C by qualifiers, Martinique, and they now have to dust themselves down and put that out of their minds when they take on Costa Rica at the Red Bull Arena as El Salvador seek a way to put an end to a worrying sequence of poor results.

Following a 3-1 home win against Grenada in the Nations League back in early June of last year, El Salvador have gained very little success in their subsequent nine matches in all competitions as they have drawn three but also suffered six defeats since that date, so they will be anxious to get themselves off the mark on Friday night against Costa Rica.

Goals may be at a premium in this upcoming tussle with Costa Rica though as five of El Salvador's last nine games have resulted in Under 2.5 goals with two of these matches ending in 1-1 stalemates as well.

Previous results in the Gold Cup have been pretty ordinary for El Salvador who have managed just three wins in their last 10 matches while seven of these 10 Gold Cup games have also produced two goals or less.

Costa Rica sit joint-bottom of Group C with their upcoming opponents, El Salvador, after they also lost 2-1 in their opening game of the group phase, losing to Panama and this defeat became a fourth loss on the trot for Costa Rica in recent times.

Previous losses to Panama (in the Nations League), Guatemala and Ecuador (both in international friendlies) suggest this could be a tough assignment for Costa Rica against another side who will also be desperate to open their account in this competition.

Costa Rica had earlier qualified for last year's World Cup finals in Qatar where they lost two of their three group games 7-0 to Spain and a 4-2 loss to Germany but in between these losses, Costa Rica registered a 1-0 victory over Japan.

El Salvador v Costa Rica Verdict

In previous exchanges between El Salvador and Costa Rica it's been Costa Rica that have come out on top on an occasional basis as they have won five of the previous 10 meetings along with five draws and goals have generally been in short supply as five of the last seven clashes have resulted in Under 2.5 goals.

Both El Salvador and Costa Rica have been in pretty poor form of late so we could be expecting a scrappy, low-scoring affair at the Red Bull Arena on Friday night.

Therefore, our main bet will be Under 2.5 goals @ 1.60

Other side bets worth considering:

Draw @ 3.20

Correct score: 1-1 @ 4.75