ECUADOR v COSTA RICA - ECUADOR MUST TO BE OPPOSED
Derek Bilton

Ecuador may be able to secure qualification to the last 16 of the World Cup with victory over Costa Rica on Thursday afternoon depending on what Poland do against Germany a day previously, but in my view only a fool would be getting involved with them to win this game at even money.

The Latin Americans scored a shock 2-0 win over Poland on the opening day of the tournament, but that win at the Veltins Arena owed as much to Poland's inability to string two passes together as it did to any individual or collective brilliance from Luis Fernando Suarez's side.

The Andean nation will probably never get a better chance of progressing to the next phase, but one should remember their nervy performances in Sapporo and elsewhere at the last World Cup before taking the plunge about them making it two wins on the spin.

Costa Rica, despite being well beaten in the end by Germany, are still not dead and buried and they will know a win in this one rips the group wide open once more.

In Paolo Wanchope (8/1 to score first) they have a crafty old pro who is still sticking them away.

His brace against Germany showed there is life in the old dog yet, even though the former Manchester City man is currently available on a free from Costa Rican outfit Herediano.

Historically these two sides are very evenly matched, have won two games each and shared five of their nine clashes to date.

Last time they met in February 2005 Ecuador scored a creditable victory in Costa Rica, but as that game was a friendly punters shouldn't read too much into the result.

The general consensus before the tournament began was that Ecuador simply couldn't play away from the high altitude of home.

This proved the foundation for a significant but ultimately flawed pre-match plunge on Poland in Gelsenkirchen.

They will have had a week longer to get used to the conditions in Germany, but I just can't have them at odds-on in places for this one with indifferent strike pairing Ulises de la Cruz and Agustin Delgado up front.

Delgado is Ecuador's leading all-time top scorer with 30 goals in 69 matches, and after his goal against the Poles his confidence will be high.

However I still don't see him as legitimate world class and if Costa Rica bring their A game then they have a real chance of winning this one.

Indeed, if you want a bet on this game the +0.5 about Costa Rica on the Asian Handicap (which is essentially the same bet as laying Ecuador), has to be the way to go.

The bookmakers are reading too much into their win over Poland, who while awful may well have earned a point from that match on another day.

As Shakespeare himself said 'one swallow does not a summer make', and so given there is precious little between the teams in terms of talent, I'm happy to take Ecuador on.

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