Friendlies Preview: Costa Rica v South Korea

Costa Rica and South Korea will continue their World Cup preparations with a friendly match at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Friday.

After a big 4-0 loss to Chile on Wednesday, the Costa Ricans will be motivated to perform better after spending large periods of time conceding possession to their South American opponent.

It is the second poor result in a row for Costa Rica, with a unimpressive performance in a 1-0 loss to Australia in November.

The Costa Rican squad will again be missing their European based players including Bryan Ruiz and Bryan Oviedo with US-based striker Alvaro Saboria also absent.

This is the first match of three-match US tour for South Korea, with the Asian nation also taking on Mexico and the USA in an eight-day period.

The South Korean squad will also be without their European stars with Son Heung-Min, Ji Dong-Won and Kim Bo-Kyung not named in the squad.

In their last two matches, the South Koreans recorded a 2-1 triumph at home over Switzerland, while they went down 2-1 to Russia in Dubai.

This tour and a subsequent match against Greece on March 4 represent South Korea’s final warm-up matches before they travel to Brazil to take on Belgium, Russia and Algeria in Group H.

Costa Rica has a friendly at home against Paraguay, also on March 4, in their last match before meeting Italy, England and Uruguay in Group D at the World Cup.