Guatemala vs Costa Rica 23/03/19

23 March 2019

The two members of the CONCACAF confederation go toe-to-toe in an international friendly as Guatemala take on Costa Rica at the Estadio Doroteo Guamuch Flores in Guatemala City.

The hosts are going through a difficult period having lost all four of their previous outings although just one of those defeats have come against the team from this region (3-1 loss to Salvador). During the same period, La Azul y Blanco have conceded 15 goals (2 or more in each game) while scoring barely one in the process. The one thing that can encourage head coach Amarini Villatoro is that all of those failures arrived away from home. Far more comfortable on home soil, Los Chapines have racked up a three-game winning run, scoring 13 goals while keeping a clean sheet twice. Still, a potential worry for the home fans is the fact Costa Rica pulled off five wins on their last six visits to Guatemala (W5, L1).

Meanwhile, after enduring a disastrous World Cup campaign, the visitors have made a change on the bench, replacing Óscar Ramírez with Gustavo Matosas, but Los Ticos are yet to give a proper reaction. After exiting the final tournament in the group stage, Costa Rica have lost four successive friendly challenges, allowing over 1.5 goals per match in each while failing to hit the net twice in the process. Although Matosas started his adventure with the national team off on the wrong foot, he has led his team to two back-to-back wins over Peru and Chile, with both of those successes ending with the identical 3-2 scoreline. However, Los Ticos go into this meeting off the back of a disappointing 2-0 loss to the United States that has seen them extending their disastrous defensive streak to nine games in which they’ve conceded 2+ match goals.