While Costa Rica has already locked up a spot at next summer's World Cup in Brazil, the Mexican National team still has plenty of work to do if they're to solidify a place or at least a tie breaking scenario regarding the 32-team event. El Tri took their last match in dramatic fashion thanks to a highlight reel goal from Raul Jimenez and with a crucial contest set to complete a long and grueling qualifying hexagonal, El Tri would love nothing more than to walk away with three additional points.
Sending a bicycle kick through to the back of the net in the 85th minute of Mexico's most recent match against Panama, Raul Jimenez kept Mexico's World Cup fate in their own hands and with one match remaining in the current qualification slate, the green, white and red are hoping one final strong performance will be enough to catapult them to the 2014 tournament. Though the win put them into the fourth place spot in the CONCACAF Hexagonal, Mexico would love nothing more than to see their standing improve with a win over a Costa Rican team that has already done its job.
The top 3 teams in the Hexagonal automatically qualify for the World Cup with the fourth place finisher forced to enter a playoff against New Zealand to determine another slot. A win over Costa Rica could be enough to launch El Tri into third where they'd avoid a playoff altogether but in order for that to happen, Mexico would need Honduras to fall in a major way in their upcoming match against a struggling Jamaican team. At the very least, El Tri can earn a draw since one point will keep Panama off their heels and at worst send Mexico into the aforementioned playoff with New Zealand.
As it stands now, the only 2 teams to qualify for the World Cup in CONCACAF are Costa Rica and the United States. Honduras currently sits third with 14 points while Mexico will enter their next match in fourth place with 11 points Panama is fifth with 8 points and Jamaica rounds out the group with 4 total points through 9 matches.
Despite the fact that Costa Rica is already in the World Cup, fans at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica would still love nothing more than to see Los Ticos upend El Tri to cap off a strong hexagonal.
Mexico vs. Costa Rica WCQ: DATE, TIME & TV INFO
DATE: Tuesday, October 15
TIME: 9:15pm, ET
TV COVERAGE: Telemundo
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