Our prediction for this World Cup 2026 match:
Costa Rica and Panama square off against each other at Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in what is expected to be a close World Cup qualifier. Los Ticos aim to build on a 2-1 win over Honduras, but this game will be anything but a walk in the park for the hosts. Since all Keylor Navas, Oscar Duarte, Cristian Gamboa, Bryan Oviedo, and Joel Campbell miss out for the hosts, we are not tempted to put our money on Luis Fernando Suarez’s troops.
Los Canaleros, on the other hand, aim to build on back-to-back wins over Honduras and El Salvador. Panama are not regarded as good travelers, which is probably the main reason why the share of spoils is on the cards. Harold Cummings is rated doubtful after he was tested positive for coronavirus, while Cecilio Waterman is out of contention with injury. Ismael Diaz, though, returns to the national team.
Highlighted Player (Keylor Navas):
Keylor Navas is an exceptionally gifted goal keeper who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Costa Rica national team. The 29-year-old rose through the youth ranks at Saprissa before making his professional bow with them in 2005.
After a successful stint with them, he ventured into Spanish football with a move to Albacete and then to Levante. His exploits at Levante earned him a move to Real Madrid where he quickly established as a first-team regular. Despite coming within seconds of moving away from the club to accommodate David de Gea, Navas became a crowd favorite with outstanding displays in 2015-16 season.
Navas has played over 60 games for Costa Rica having made his debut in 2008. He has represented them at the 2014 FIFA World Cup where Costa Rica were a losing quarter-finalists. Their progress in the tournament is largely attributed to the success of Navas under the sticks.
Highlighted Team (Panama):
Norway are a Nordic side that participated three times at the FIFA World Cup finals (1938, 1994 and 1998). The Norwegians were producing fine performances at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, with the team setting up a meeting with Italy in the last 16 of the showpiece tournament thanks to a 2-1 win over Brazil in their last group match.
However, the Azzurri proved to be a big catch for Norway and thanks to Bobo Vieri’s goal the Italians made it to the quarter-finals. Norway only once qualified for the European Championship finals, with the team suffering elimination in the group stages of the 2000 tournament in Belgium and Netherlands. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the most famous Norwegian player and it is well known that he helped Manchester United beat Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final.
The “Baby-faced” striker scored the winner for the Red Devils in the dying seconds of the match. Norway play their home games at Ullevaal Stadion, which was opened in September, 1926. The capacity of the venue is 28.000.