Mexico vs Costa Rica Predictions, Odds & Sports Betting Tips 07/09/2023

The Gold Cup reaches the quarter final stage in the early hours of Sunday morning. Mexico are being widely tipped to lift the trophy, so will go into their match with Costa Rica as firm favourites with the bookmakers. However, Costa Rica have sprung plenty of surprises in recent years and cannot be underestimated.

With eight titles under their belts, Mexico are comfortably the most successful team in Gold Cup history. They began this year’s quest with two comfortable victories over Honduras and Haiti, before stumbling to a 1-0 dead rubber defeat versus Qatar.

That defeat to Qatar highlighted the Mexican’s struggles in front of goal in recent times. They wasted countless chances before succumbing to the Qatari’s only shot on target. Indeed, their only player to have found the net twice so far is defensive midfielder Luis Ramo. The Mexicans will need their front men to step up if they are to progress deep in the competition.

It was a rollercoaster group stage for Costa Rica. They opened with a limp 1-2 defeat to Panama, before a goalless encounter with El Salvador left them needing a win from their final group game to progress. They duly delivered thanks to a remarkable 6-4 victory over Martinique. A game in which seven goals were scored in the final 35 minutes.

Defence is clearly a big concern for the Costa Ricans. They are letting in an average of two goals per game so far, and will need to sharpen up if they want to reach the semi finals. Going forward, much will depend on veteran striker Joel Campbell, who will be winning his 131st cap this weekend.

The two sides have met 60 times previously, with Mexico leading the head to head by 34-7. It has been eleven games since Costa Rica came out on top in the encounter and they have failed to score in the last four meetings. Their last victory over Mexico came during qualification for the 2014 World Cup.

The last game between the two sides was in 2026 World Cup qualifying in January. That finished 0-0, the 18th stalemate between the teams.

With such a rich history of games between Mexico and Costa Rica, there were a lot of relevant statistics to pore over. There have been 11 games between the sides in the last ten years alone, which means there are plenty of relevant stats to help formulate a prediction for the upcoming game.

Most of the statistical pointers are in Mexico’s favour. They have (easily) the better head to head record, and putting aside the final group games, they are in much better form. However, this is knockout football so anything can happen.

It is hard to look past a Mexican victory here. Costa Rica are likely to cause a few early problems and may even be level at the break, but the Mexican’s superior class is likely to shine through as the game progresses. The bookmakers clearly agree and have Mexico as short priced 2/7 favourites to win in 90 minutes. In contrast, you can get 8/1 on a Costa Rica victory and 15/4 on a draw after 90 minutes.

Our tip for the game is for Mexico to win by two goals to nil. The best odds for this selection are the 9/2 on offer at Betfair.