World Cup Qatar | Spain vs Costa Rica - Nov 23 | 16:00 UTC

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Game info Spain vs Costa Rica

 

Last of the 32 teams to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Costa Rica will face Spain on Wednesday, November 23. The match, which will take place at the Al Thumama stadium, is part of the inaugural round of the World Cup. The start is scheduled for 16:00 UTC.

 

How does the 2022 Qatar World Cup work?

 

The World Cup in Qatar will be the last to be played with 32 teams. As of the 2026 World Cup, shared by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the number of participants will jump to 4. Thus, it will be the last time the format with eight groups of four teams will be used. Teams play against each other in a single shift in this first phase.

 

The top two finishers in each bracket survive to the next stage. From then on, in a single elimination game, the finalists will be defined. In the case of equality, the extra time and penalty kicks can be used to describe who advances.

 

Spain performance

Fury's walk in the European qualifiers for the Qatar Cup could have been smoother. There was a moment in the dispute when the team led by Luis Enrique stopped depending only on their results. Only with Sweden's stumbling did the window of opportunity open for it to finish in first place in the group and, in this way, guarantee a direct place in the World Cup.

 

The oscillation was not an outlier. On the contrary, this has been a constant in the work of the coach, who has not avoided experimenting since he took office. He was forced to leave due to the illness that affected his daughter and forced him to leave the post. From the turbulent return, in which he demanded the resignation of Robert Moreno, his assistant, and when he occupied the vacancy when he was dedicated to family issues, he did not follow the established planning.

 

Eliminated by Italy in the semifinals of Euro 2020 in the penalty shootout, Spain showed evolution during the 2022/2023 version of the League of Nations in Europe. I was guaranteed a 1-0 victory, on opposing soil, over Portugal, in the final round, first place in group 2, and the chance to dispute the competition's title. This, however, will only happen next year.

 

Costa Rica performance

Costa Rica only managed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar on the last lap of the pointer. Situation to which it was forced to submit for not reaching one of the top three positions in the Central and North American Qualifiers for the World Cup. Behind Canada, Mexico, and the United States, he had to go through the repechage to try to stamp his passport.

 

The Costa Ricans even reached the same score as the North Americans; however, they were at a disadvantage when the tiebreakers were considered. The battle for the thirty-second – last – place in the Qatar Cup took place against New Zealand, champion of the Oceania qualifiers. With Qatar on the stage, it won by 1-0 in a single elimination game on June 14.

 

This meant he had a brief period in the final stretch of preparation for the 2022 World Cup. Colombian coach Luis Suarez only had time to play three friendly matches. It won two of them (Nigeria and Uzbekistan), both against teams that failed to qualify for the World Cup, and drew once (South Korea) in the most valuable test against an opponent that also secured a place in the Qatar Cup.

 

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