Spain vs Costa Rica - 2022 World Cup Betting Guide

Spain Team Info – Can They Recapture Former Glory?

Spain won their first World Cup in 2010. In the 2000s through to mid 2010s, Spain was the top team in the world, not only winning the World Cup but also winning 2 European Championships. After that generation of players started retiring, they went into a slow decline. In the past 2 World Cups, Spain have either crashed out in the group stage, or reached the round of 16. In 2020, the team managed to reach the semi finals of the European Championship, but were knocked out by Italy in a penalty shootout. Spain qualified for the World Cup after topping Group B of the UEFA World Cup qualifiers. The group consisted of Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, and Sweden. Spain won 6 out of their 8 games, scoring 15 goals and conceding 5.

Spain conceded goals in their first 4 games, but in their next 4, they managed to keep clean sheets. Manager Luis Enrique prefered to use the 25 year old Unai Simon in goal, ahead of their longtime goalkeeper David De Gea. A few changes were made in the defence as well, with the introduction of players such as Pau Torres, Marcos Llorente, Aymeric Laporte, Cesar Azpicilueta and Eric Garcia occasionally playing instead of Jordi Alba, Dani Carvajal and Sergio Ramos. In midfield, Spain also has some well known players such as Koke, Sergio Busquets, and Sergi Roberto, but they also have younger talents in Carlos Soler, Rodri, and Barcelona's two teenagers Gavi and Pedri. In attack, they have another Barcelona youth product in Ansu Fati, who will be 20 at the time of the World Cup. Their main strikeforce include Ferran Torres, Alvaro Morata, Mikel Oyarzabal, and Marco Asensio.

Costa Rica Team Info – A Very Mixed Squad

Costa Rica were 46th in the World Rankings when the qualifiers started, the third highest CONCACAF nation behind Mexico and the United States. They had previously qualified for all World Cups since 2006, with the exception of the 2010 World Cup, and were predicted to qualify comfortably. This was not the case, as the team failed to win in their first four games, and then failed to find any form until the qualifying round was halfway through. They won their last 4 games, to ensure a fourth place finish in the CONMEBOL qualifying group, and then had to face New Zealand in the inter-confederation playoffs. Costa Rica won the game and secured their place in the World Cup.

Despite their difficult qualification route, Costa Rica has a good history at the World Cup, with their best run coming in 2014, when they reached the quarterfinals. Their team does have a lot of ageing players, such as Giancarlo Gonzalez, Bryan Oviedo, and Cristian Gamboa in defence, and Celsog Borges and captain Bryan Ruiz in the midfield. However, they also have a lot of players who are at their peak, such as Keylor Navas in goal, Francisco Calvo and Keysher Fuller in defence; midfielders Yeltsin Tejeda, Randall Leal, Allan Cruz; and their main striker Joel Campbell. There are also plenty of younger players who may be picked for the squad, but they have not had much experience playing for Costa Rica.

Spain vs Costa Rica Head-to-head

Spain has played against Costa Rica 3 times before, which were all international friendlies. The first time came in 2011, when the two teams drew 2-2. In 2015, they met again, with Spain beating Costa Rica 2-1. In 2017 they met most recently, and Spain thrashed Costa Rica 5-0.

Spain vs Costa Rica Betting Preview

If you want to bet on this match, you will find that there is a huge selection of bets relating to what may or may not happen in the game. You can find bets on Spain to win, Costa Rica to win, how many goals the two teams may score, and many more.

Asian Handicaps

Handicaps are bets on a team to win by a certain margin or more, or you can place handicaps that favour your chosen team, in which case the handicap will be added to the team’s score at the end of the game.

For example, if you place a bet on Spain to beat Costa Rica with a handicap of -2.5 then you will need Spain to win the game by 3 or more goals. If you place a bet on Spain to win with a handicap of -2 then you will need Spain to finish the game at least 3 goals clear of Costa Rica, but if they only finish 2 goals ahead then the score will be tied and the money you staked will be returned.

You can also bet on Spain to beat Costa Rica with a handicap of -2.25 which will split your stake in two and put half your money on a handicap of -2.5 and the other on a handicap of -2. Therefore, if Spain were to finish the game 3 goals ahead of Costa Rica, then both halves of the bet will be satisfied and you will receive your full winnings. If Spain only beat Costa Rica by 2 goals then you will receive half your stake back.

Over/Under Total Goals

You can bet on how many goals will be scored in the game with the total goals bet. Here, you will have to pick a betting line and then bet on whether there will be more or less goals than the line.

For example, if you think Spain and Costa Rica will be packed with goals then you can bet on the game to end with over 4.5 goals. If you think that the two teams will struggle to score against each other, then you can bet on the game to end with under 1.5 goals.

Player Goals

You will find a whole selection of bets on which players will score in the match. There will be the odds for Alvaro Morata, Ferran Torres, and any other Spanish footballer who starts the match, as well as bets on the Costa Rican players such as Joel Campbell, Randall Leal, and so on. There will also be more specific bets such as which player will score the opening goal and which player will score the last goal of the match.

And Loads More

In addition to the bets listed above, you will find that there are far more bets available on the group match between Spain and Costa Rica. These include bets such as Spain to score the first goal, Costa Rica to keep a clean sheet, both teams to score, Spain to reverse the result, either team to score in the first 10 minutes, Spain to win 3-0, and many more similar types of bets.

There are many different bets to pick from, and you will also find that the group matches in the World Cup come in quick succession, which is why we highly recommend you to make a budget when you want to bet on the World Cup. It is easy to become carried away, and that may lead to you spending beyond your financial limits. If you want to read more about how you can set budgets and keep track of how much you spend, you can find a lot of useful information at gambleaware.co.uk