The biggest sporting event in the world continues with the Group E Spain v Costa Rica clash that sees possibly the biggest mismatch of Group E.
With so many games and so little time, our Group E Spain v Costa Rica Match Centre tries to sum it all up as quickly as possible before and after the game. We watch and follow the game so you don’t have to.
With answers to the key questions prior to the match and our Minutes that Mattered summary and stats post game, it is a real Who Cares guide to the 2022 World Cup for the person on the go.
Enjoy the Group E Spain v Costa Rica Match Centre.
KICKOFF – SUNDAY 20th NOV – 19:00 (QATAR) 16:00 (UK) 03:00 (AEDT)
Group E Spain v Costa Rica Match Review
Spain have blown away Costa Rica 7-0 who failed to have a shot on goal. Spain now have a mortgage on the top of Group E after Germany’s shock loss to Japan.
Minutes that Mattered
Welcome to the briefest of match summaries, like a minute by minute you find on professional websites except one that has only the minutes that matter. All wheat, no chaff.
And if the below isn’t enough, for those in Australia you can catch up via the SBS World Cup on Demand.
2’ Min Early corner for Spain, which they promptly send back to the goalkeeper for a few more passes. Classic Spain.
5’ Min First proper chance for Spain – Pedri crosses for Dani Olmo who shoots across the face of goal on the volley. Not far away, and a little too easy for Spain.
9’ Min Another close chance for Spain goes begging. Pedri tees up Marco Asensio inside the box and Asensio shoots just wide of the posts. Danger sides for Costa Rica who may have had grand plans before the game having just seen Japan beat Germany.
11’ Min GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR SPAIN
Spain eventually get their goal and it is a Spanish masterpiece as you’d expect. Like knitting a Xmas jumper, the Spanish criss-cross their way through the Costa Rican defence, the final ball pops up off a defender and Dani Olmo twists and turns and puts the ball past the keeper.
SPAIN 1 COSTA RICA 0
15’ Min Free kick to Spain leads to nothing and then Costa Rica go down field and earn a free kick themselves. That being their first real attacking move. An offside later and it’s back to normal service of lots of passes from Spain.
21’ Min GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR SPAIN
After just a few passes, Spain attack down the left, a key pass form Busquets to Jordi Alba hanging out on the left, then he fires a cross to an unmarked Marco Asesnio in the middle of the box who finishes well.
SPAIN 2 COSTA RICA 0
29’ Min PENALTY TO SPAIN
Jordi Alba charges into the Costa Rican penalty area and is met by Óscar Duarte who has two cracks at stopping the Spanish player, the second of which is enough to bring down Alba. Not much contact, but enough.
31’ Min GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR SPAIN
Ferran Torres steps up and coolly puts the ball away. Too easy. Spain are surely dominating and this could be any old score.
SPAIN 3 COSTA RICA 0
37’ Min Costa Rica actually have the ball for an extended period, and they don’t look to bad. They’re not going to win, or probably get a point from this group, but at least they’re not straight-up hopeless. Spain would have beaten everyone based on today’s performance.
45’ Min Looks lie just the five minutes of added time. That’s not much at all and is probably because of the many Spanish goals.
HALF TIME – SPAIN 3 COSTA RICA 0
46’ Min Spain don’t take long to get on the attack. Marco Asensio puts a shot over the crossbar. He’ll get another chance you’d think.
54’ Min GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR SPAIN
Ferran Torres gets a goal from open play and he had to work for it. After receiving the Gavi pass, Torres drives into the box, is met by the goalkeeper and two defenders, and he fights, pivots, then still manages to get a shot away and scores.
SPAIN 4 COSTA RICA 0
60’ Min Yes, we are still watching, but with Spain looking so dominant there’s no point telling you about anything other than goals or big match moments. We’d say streaker, but there’s probably a punishment of death for that in Qatar, so probably not worth the notoriety. Depends, Instagram likes are as important as life itself for some.
74’ Min GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR SPAIN
Gavi scores from the edge of the box with the outside of his right boot. It clears the keeper and bounces into the net off the posts, which always makes a goal more spectacular in our opinion. The assist came from Alvaro Morata who found Gavi in loads of space.
SPAIN 5 COSTA RICA 0
79’ Min Fight, fight, fight. Costa Rica seem to have just enough energy left to start a scuffle with Spain. You can understand the frustration. A bit silly though for Gavi to take on Costa Rica’s Kendall Waston who monstered over the Spanish player.
89’ Min GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR SPAIN
Carlos Soler scores after Costa Rica keeper Navas spills a Williams cross into the path of Soler who side foots it to glory.
SPAIN 6 COSTA RICA 0
90’ Min How cruel are FIFA. They put up 8 minutes on the board for added time. Like this game needs any more minutes for anyone involved.
90’ + 3 Min GOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR SPAIN
Yep, Spain had one more in them. The goal going to Alvaro Morata.
SPAIN 7 COSTA RICA 0
Final Score
SPAIN 7
Dani Olmo 11’ Marco Asesnio 21’ Ferran Torres 31’ (pen) Ferran Torres 54’ Gavi 74’
COSTA RICA 0
HT – Spain 3-0
Player of the Match
All of them (Spain)
Points of Interest
- It was the first time a side has scored seven goals in a World Cup match since the infamous Brazil v Germany match at the 2014 World Cup.
- There have been 15 occasions where a side has scored seven or more goals in a World Cup game. European teams have suffered the most with five of those 15 games. It was a fourth time that a CONCACAF team had lost by seven or more at the World Cup.
- According to Who Scored Costa Rica had zero shots. Zero. Apparently the last time a team did that at the World Cup was in 1990 when Costa Rica did it against Brazil.
Group E Spain v Costa Rica Match Stats
Group E Spain v Costa Rica Starting Teams
SPAIN (4-3-3)
23 Simón
2 Azpilicueta
16 Rodri
24 Laporte
18 Alba
9 Gavi
5 Busquets
26 Pedri
11 F Torres
10 Asensio
21 Olmo
COSTA RICA (4-4-2)
1 Navas
16 Martínez
6 Duarte
15 Calvo
8 Oviedo
4 Fuller
5 Borges
17 Tejeda
9 Bennette
12 Campbell
7 Contreras
Group E Spain v Costa Rica Match Preview
Why should you care?
Because it’s Spain’s first match of the World Cup and they are fancied to feature in the sharp end of the World Cup we should be excited. Until their constant passing without really attacking drives you insane. But we do get to see what shape they are in given that this game on paper looks an easier one, so a dropped point here spells trouble, as there’s Germany yet to play.
Who should you care about?
Alvaro Morata‘s performance will be a bit of a yardstick for the whole of the Spanish team go. We’ve predicted a Spanish victory first up, but not don’t trusy Morata enough to include him in our Fantasy team. We seriously considered Rodri though, so potentially another name among many to watch.
Costa Rica in Celso Borges and Bryan Ruiz have two of the top eight players for most Internationals played. That’s interesting enough and much respect to those gents.
Full 2022 World Cup Squads & Stats
Is there a barely interesting fact?
Spain (W3 D1) are undefeated v CONCACAF teams at the World Cup.
Costa Rica did beat Italy 1-0 in the 2014 World Cup.
The last time Spain met another Spanish speaking team at the World Cup was when they lsot 2-0 to Chile.
Who will win?
Spain 2 Cost Rica 0
Full 2022 World Cup Predictions
