England did not have it easy in their latest friendly against Nigeria, but they did manage to record a win despite the resistance. They will now continue their warm-up friendlies, when they will play host to Costa Rica on Thursday. Costa Rica have been making a name for themselves in recent years and are also gearing up for the World Cup.
England have played five friendlies since the World Cup qualifiers have finished, and they have actually not lost a single one (2-0-3). However, they were held to draws against some really tough opponents like Germany, Brazil and Italy, while they defeated the Netherlands (1-0) and Nigeria (1-2). In their last match against Nigeria they took an early two-goal lead, but they were actually really threatened in the second half and barely held on to their lead.
Costa Rica have been splashing the waters in big competitions in recent years, and they also made it to this year’s World Cup. In the previous edition they actually finished at the top of a group that also featured England, Italy and Uruguay, which was a massive feat. They went on to reach the quarter-finals of the competition, where they were eliminated against the Netherlands in the penalty shoot-out. Moreover, they reached the semi-finals of the Gold Cup last season, and also easily finished at the 2nd spot of the CONMEBOL qualifying group (4-2-4).
