Costa Rica World Cup Betting Preview: Latest odds, squad and tournament history

Los Ticos are outsiders to even make it into the knockout stages of Russia 2018, but their exploits from four years ago means they can't be ignored

The surprise package in the World Cup four years ago when they topped a group featuring Italy, Uruguay and England, Costa Rica will be out for a repeat this year.

Drawn this time around with Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland, the Central Americans have a tough task of getting to the knockout stages but will hope to channel their 2014 form.

Oscar Ramirez's men navigated qualifying fairly comfortably, winning their group stage in the fourth round of CONCACAF before coming second in the final round.

There was just one loss in their first nine matches in the final stage for Los Ticos, with defeat to Panama on the last matchday only serving to knock out the USA.

Marco Urena was top scorer with four goals across Costa Rica's 16 matches, during which time they netted 25 times as a team.

Costa Rica stunned the footballing world in 2014 when they beat Uruguay 3-1 in their opening match and defeated Italy 1-0 to guarantee their spot in the knockouts.

They eventually succumbed to Netherlands on penalties in the quarter-finals after beating Greece in the same way in the previous round.

Prior to that tournament in Brazil, Los Ticos had only ever competed at three other editions - being knocked out in the group stage twice and in the round of 16 once.