Costa Rica v Panama Betting Tips: Los Ticos to get the job done

With the group stages now done and dusted, this summers’ Gold Cup really begins to hot up. As one of the better known nations, at least in terms of footballing exploits, Costa Rica was expected to do well at this competition and, as they’ve made it to the quarter-finals undefeated, have lived up to their name. In Panama, they face one of the lesser sides and should feel reasonably confident about making the final four.

Panama also came through the groups undefeated as they secured two wins and a draw against Martinique, Nicaragua and USA respectively; however, their wins were perhaps easier to come by while they seem a far less astute side than their opposition. Of the pair, it is definitely Costa Rica who impressed more during the group stages.

The one glaring difference between these two is that Costa Rica give the impression that they’re defensively solid whereas Panama, quite frankly, do not. With this in mind, it is quite surprising that the former are as big in the betting as they are. The Costa Ricans do come into this match as favourites but odds of 13/10 still look on the generous side and are worth taking advantage of.

In three group matches, Óscar Ramírez’s men deployed their usual defensive approach and were duly rewarded as they kept two clean sheets and conceded just one goal. Not only did they keep both Honduras and French Guiana at bay with relative ease, but the fact that they managed to concede just one goal (and very few other chances) against a Canadian attack that contained the exciting youngster Alphonso Davies was quietly impressive. Compared with Panama’s defensive antics at this tournament, Costa Rica simply look a cut above. At the other end of affairs, as they’re yet to be denied and have scored five goals overall, they have more than enough about them to build on what appear to be solid defensive foundations.

As mentioned above, it’s the fact that Panama have looked far more shaky at the back that could be their downfall here, even though they’ve looked OK in the final third. For starters, they looked weak in conceding against both USA and Nicaragua while the fact that they managed to keep a clean sheet against Martinique – who hit the bar twice and spurned other opportunities – really ought to be ignored. From an attacking point of view, it’s one thing scoring goals against Nicaragua and Martinique, two teams who’re particularly inept at the back, but doing so against Costa Rica, who’re probably the best defensive side at this tournament, will be much, much tougher.

Based on what we’ve already seen from this pair, it’s difficult to see anything other than a Costa Rican victory on Wednesday night; they’ve simply got too much defensive nous and are fancied to put in a trademark performance at the back before making the opposition pay at the other end.

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