While there should be a few familiar faces for Los Ticos, they will be fielding a relatively inexperienced squad at this tournament, and although that might benefit these youngsters down the road, we believe that a lack of cohesion will prove to be their demise on Monday.
Los Canaleros, meanwhile, have developed plenty of chemistry, plus their physicality and solid defensive shape should make life difficult for a Costa Rican squad without many chance creators.
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Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Costa Rica win with a probability of 41.04%. A win for Panama had a probability of 30.29% and a draw had a probability of 28.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Costa Rica win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.13%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.1%) and 2-0 (8.03%). The likeliest Panama win was 0-1 (10.82%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.24%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 6.7% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted that Panama would win this match.
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