Costa Rica’s men’s National Soccer Team “La Sele” has two important matches coming up corresponding to the CONCACAF World Cup qualification rounds; this Friday, September 2 they will measure up against Haiti, the game will take place at the Sylvio Cator stadium, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti at 6 P.M. Costa Rica time, (8 P.M. EST). The second game will be played at home where Costa Rica will receive Panama for the final game of this fourth qualifying round on Tuesday, September 6.

“La Sele” has a total of 10 points in Group B, and only needs one point to earn its qualification to the fifth round, Panama has seven points, Jamaica four and Haiti one; with this scenario if Costa Rica ties or gets the win against Haiti they will automatically be in the next phase by the time they play Panama on Tuesday.
Costa Rica has several of its main figures playing in international soccer clubs, which has made it difficult for the team to work together; they’ve only had one training session that included the entire starting lineup ahead of Friday’s game. The most significant absences in Costa Rica’s lineup include main goalkeeper Keylor Navas who is still recovering from a foot surgery and Rodney Wallace who is suffering from a muscle strain.

On the other hand, Haiti’s head coach, Patrice Neveu, has made statements to the press about the difficulties he has faced to properly prepare his team for the qualification matchups, reportedly he has had limited access to resources and this will be evidenced in Haiti’s line up which will lack the presence of some of its main figures in their upcoming games against Costa Rica and Jamaica.

Although “La Sele” is going into these last two games in a very comfortable position it is crucial that they secure their classification by defeating Haiti this Friday, this way they will be the undisputed winners of Group B in this round. The top two teams from each group will advance to the fifth round where three slots to the World Cup Russia 2018 will be disputed.

We will keep you up to date with the results of these games right here at The Costa Rica Star.