Football Bet of the Day: Costa Rica can frustrate Mexico

Mexico v Costa Rica
Monday 00:30 (Live on BT Sport 2)

In the end, Cork pulled out all the stops to thrash Longford 4-1 in the Republic of Ireland yesterday.

Now we need to do something similar to rescue our week.

We finish in New Jersey, where Mexico are preparing to take on Costa Rica in the last of the Concacaf Gold Cup quarter-finals.

Mexico reached this stage with a thumping 6-0 win over Cuba - subsequently emulated by the USA in an earlier quarter-final - and a couple of draws: 0-0 with Guatemala and, er, 4-4 with Trinidad & Tobago. It's worth noting that the latter game did not have much riding on it.

In total, Miguel Herrera's men have drawn seven of the 10 matches they've played in an action-packed schedule since the start of June. Three of those games (including two draws) involved the weakened team they sent to last month's Copa America. But set them aside and the trend remains: El Tri are drawing a lot of matches right now.

Three weeks ago, the Mexicans met Costa Rica for a friendly in Florida and ended up all-square at 2-2. For tonight's meeting, Giovani Dos Santos - their most creative attacker - is not fully fit and will be on the bench at best.

Paulo Wanchope's Costa Rica are not shy of a draw either. They reached this stage with a hat-trick of them: 2-2 with Jamaica, 1-1 with El Salvador and 0-0 with Canada.

It's not the most impressive series of results to take into a game with a much higher-ranked opponent, but remember how Los Ticos held England, Greece and the Netherlands to draws in last summer's World Cup.

Going back to that goalless symphony with the Three Lions, Costa Rica have drawn 10/17 internationals. Coming into this game, Fifa rank Mexico at 40 and Los Ticos at 41, so it really ought to be a close one.

Otherwise Fifa would lose all of that credibility they've been building up recently.

Recommended Bet
Back the Draw @ 3.5551/20 in Mexico v Costa Rica