Costa Rica’s friendly against England began late and ended with a familiar warning for La Sele: there is still a wide gap between Fernando Batista’s rebuilding squad and the elite sides it wants to measure itself against. A heavy storm and lightning pushed kickoff at Inter&Co Stadium from 4 p.m. local time to 5 p.m., sending fans to shelter before play eventually began. Once the match started, England took control quickly.
Declan Rice scored in the ninth minute, giving England a lead it never looked likely to lose. Costa Rica spent most of the first half defending deep and trying to survive long stretches without the ball. Patrick Sequeira kept the score within reach with several first-half saves, the clearest reason the match did not turn into a larger defeat earlier.
England, using the match as its final warm-up before the World Cup, pressed Costa Rica into mistakes and moved the ball with far more speed. Anthony Gordon caused problems from the left side, Jude Bellingham found room between the lines, and Harry Kane occupied Costa Rica’s center backs until England began rotating heavily in the second half.
Costa Rica’s attack offered almost no relief. Manfred Ugalde was isolated, Jossimar Alcócer and Carlos Mora spent more time defending than breaking forward, and Orlando Galo was forced into a heavy defensive shift in midfield. La Tricolor had little possession and rarely gave England’s back line a problem.
The second half followed the same pattern. Sequeira left after an apparent muscular issue, and Abraham Madriz came in. England doubled its lead in the 68th minute after Darryl Araya handled a shot in the box following a Bellingham run. Gordon converted the penalty to make it 2-0.
Ollie Watkins added the third in the 87th minute, heading in from close range after Madriz could only push a ball up in front of goal. The scoreline was fair, and England had enough chances to make it heavier.
The result will sting less because of the opponent. England is one of the stronger teams heading into the tournament and used the night to sharpen its squad before its World Cup opener against Croatia. For Costa Rica, though, the match exposed the same issues: difficulty playing through pressure, limited attacking possession, and problems turning defensive work into clear chances.
Batista’s bigger project remains a rebuild. Costa Rica is trying to refresh the national team after missing the expanded 2026 World Cup, while testing younger players before the Nations League, Gold Cup and the next qualifying cycle. That makes friendlies like this valuable, but also unforgiving. Against top-level opponents, mistakes appear quickly and time on the ball disappears.
Costa Rica has now played four friendlies under Batista’s current spell without a win, with losses to Iran, Colombia and England and a draw against Jordan. The record matters, but the performances may matter more. The England match did not show a team ready to compete with elite opponents. It showed a team still searching for a shape, rhythm and core group capable of moving the program forward.
For the Costa Rican fans inside Inter&Co Stadium, the night still carried some value. La Sele got another chance to play in front of its diaspora in the United States, and the matchup placed Costa Rica on the same field as one of international football’s highest-profile squads. But on the field, there was no hiding the difference.
England left Orlando with confidence. Costa Rica left with another hard measure of the work ahead.
