Costa Rica has a good chance of coming out triumphant in the 2018 World Cup next year, from June 14 to July 15.
At least not face in Russia a group as terrifying as in Brazil in 2014.
The Costa Rican national team, “La Sele”, will not face in 2018 three world champions as it did in the last World Cup outing.
With Italy’s loss and not qualifying for 2018, mathematically the Ticos facing three world champions again is not possible.
This is due to the way in which the selections are distributed. The draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup will take place on 1 December 2017 at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, to determine the group in which each of the 32 qualified national teams will play in at the start of the tournament.
In the last World Cup, Costa Rica had the titanic task of facing Italy, England and Uruguay.
Unlike previous editions of the World Cup, all pots will be determined by each national team’s October 2017 FIFA World Ranking, with Pot 1 containing the highest-ranked teams, Pot 2 containing the next highest-ranked teams, and so on; in previous editions only one pot containing the highest-ranked teams was determined by rank, with the other three pots determined by continental confederation.
The hosts will continue to be placed in Pot 1 and treated as a seeded team, therefore, Pot 1 will consist of hosts Russia and the seven highest-ranked teams that qualify for the tournament.
Costa Rica is in pot 3, in the mix with Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Iran and Sweden. Two spots are still open in the pot. Iceland is waiting to be placed, and the winner between Ireland and Denmark will define the second spot.
In 2018, the most the Ticos may face are two champions.
A total of 64 games will be played to decide the winner of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Meet Zabivaka™, the Official Mascot for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™.
