Iran -- top of the points table in Group C -- have qualified for the knockout stage along with USA, Paraguay, Brazil, France and England, who are leading their respective groups with six points each.
The Asian giant-killers thrashed Germany 4-0 in their previous match.
"It was a great performance by our boys against Germany. They played as a unit, controlled the proceedings and exploited the gaps in the German defence to score a fluent 4-0 win," said Iran coach Abbas Chamanian.
Abbas also complimented his defence, who never allowed the rival any space to operate in the danger zone. Knowing that the German defence is vulnerable under attack, the wily Iranian coach adopted an offensive approach and the move worked as the German defence fell apart under pressure conceding four goals.
"Now that we have won both our matches, we are looking to win against Costa Rica to finish our league engagement with all win," stated Chamanian.
Costa Rica, who lost to Germany in their opening match, have one point after they drew against Guinea, and now need to win tomorrow to make it to the knockout round.
Costa Rica found the going tough against Guinea, who dominated throughout but were denied by keeper Richardo.
"It's a do or die battle for us now and our boys know it. We need to play to our potential against a side who are on high confident after two consecutive win.
Squads:
Iran: Gholam Zadeh Gomari, Satavi, Jalali, Esmaeil Zadeh Shahkola, Nasiri, Shariati Khameneh, Hosseinzadeh Tazehgheshlagh, Sharifi, Sayyad Manesh Shiadeh, Ghobeishavi, Delfi, Ashayer, Janipour, Davaran, Kooshki, Namdari DEhghadi, Ghaderi, Karimi Lishter, Sardari Amidabadi, Khaghani and Khoda Moradi.
Costa Rica: Ricardo Montenegro, Andres Hernandez, Fernan Faerron, Karin Arce, Amferny Arias, Wabter Cortes, Morio Mora, Christian Munoz, Julen Cordero, Greivin Fonseca, Felipe Flores, Jose Alfaro, Brandon Calvo, Ronnier Bustomante, Josre Abarca, Andres Gomez, Yecxy Jarquin, Kevin Chamorro, Sebastian Castro, Alexander Roman and Daniel Chaon.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
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