Costa Rica and the Republic of Ireland are playing on Friday night in a World Cup international friendly match at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey and the match starts at 8 pm ET as Costa Rica prepares for Brazil and Jorge Luis Pinto wants his team prepared and ready to play against a very tough group that includes England and that means Wayne Rooney.
Costa Rica comes into the match having won only once in the past five matches and that was against Paraguay in March and now the team plays against the Irish and they hope to get fit and game-ready heading into Brazil. The team is the underdog in their group and getting to the knockout stage will be very hard and teams like England and Italy are very skilled and Uruguay has one of the best players in the world in Luis Suarez. Uruguay needs Suarez back after his amazing Premier League season and he comes into the World Cup injured and could miss the Cup and they need him for a chance to get into the next stage. Costa Rica also played against Australia last year and they are in the World Cup and the team also played against Chile, Korea and then against Paraguay before their last matchup and Ireland comes in after a draw with Italy and they also played Turkey and Serbia this year.
Costa Rica lost against Japan on Monday and that came after the roster was made final and now the team is putting themselves out in a starting lineup in their last big game before the Cup. Mexico and Portugal are also playing, while Greece and Bolivia are matching up as well just a week before the tournament. Things get started in Brazil with the home nation taking on Croatia on Thursday night in Sao Paulo and that will kick things off before Cameroon and Mexico matchup on Friday with Group B also playing.
The toughest group in the entire tournament is Group G and that's the group of death with Ghana, the United States, Germany and Portugal and it will be very hard for those teams to make it out, although Germany is a favorite in the tournament. Portugal is hopeful that Cristiano Ronaldo will be healthy enough to play in the tournament in Brazil, but he will not play on Friday night against Mexico and that will make it tough for him to pick up where he left off before getting hurt since he hasn't played in weeks. Ronaldo was injured towards the end of the La Liga season and he last played with Real Madrid in the Champions League final, scoring a goal and helping his team win the championship.
Check here for the Costa Rica and Ireland live coverage from the World Cup friendly schedule.