Costa Rica vs Northern Ireland — Friendlies 2026
Match Prediction
Statistical Prediction
Based on goals from last 12+ matches
Costa Rica40%
Northern Ireland32%✓ Correct in 50 of 100 matches — 5 more than always backing the home side
The model picks a winner (home or away) for each finished match using only pre-kickoff data, then checks it against the real result: 50.2% correct across 585,598 matches, vs 44.5% for always backing the home side.
Home picks 50.5% correct · Away picks 49.3% correct
Football matches only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Expected goals in this match
What is xG?
Every shot is scored 0–1 by how likely it is to be a goal from that spot — a chance in the middle of the box ≈ 0.4, a long shot from a tight angle ≈ 0.03, a penalty ≈ 0.76. Add them up over a match and that is the xG.
The scoreline can lie: you can win 1-0 on a fluke while creating half the chances. xG shows who was really closer to scoring — and over a season it predicts results better than goals alone.
Costa Rica creates 15% more chances
Season form · 12 home / 15 away
creates per match
allows per match
finishing
Total goals
- Under60
- Over40
Fewer than 3 goals likely
Both teams score
- No54
- Yes46
One side may not score
Score probability
Probability of each scoreline, %
Costa Rica ↓
Most likely 1–1 (13%) · grid covers 99% of scorelines
More markets
Total goals
Double chance
Winning margin
Team goals
Draw no bet
Combos
Model probabilities, not odds. For information only.
How is this calculated?
Every number below comes from this match — nothing is made up.
Recent form of each side
Costa Rica at home — creates 0.83, concedes 1.00 · 12 matches
Northern Ireland away — creates 1.13, concedes 1.60 · 15 matches
⚑ Home and away form are counted separately — the home-field edge is already baked into these numbers.
Expected goals for this match
Costa Rica attack 0.83 + Northern Ireland defence 1.60 → ÷2 → 1.22
Northern Ireland attack 1.13 + Costa Rica defence 1.00 → ÷2 → 1.06
Each side's attack is blended with the other's defence, then averaged.
Chance of every scoreline
From those two numbers a Poisson distribution gives the probability of each exact score — the grid shown above.
The answer to "why 40%?"
Costa Rica at 40% is simply the biggest of the three — that is the pick.
What the model can't see
It reads only the stats of recent matches. It knows nothing about:
- injuries & suspensions
- the matchday lineup
- motivation — cup, relegation, a title race
- weather & pitch condition
- in-game coaching decisions
So 40% does not mean "Costa Rica will win" — it means "on the available stats, this is the most likely result."
Statistical model based on expected goals (xG). For informational purposes only.
Match Events
Northern Ireland substitutes
Head to Head
1 previous meeting · small sampleCosta Rica host Northern Ireland on Sunday, 3 June 2018 at 17:00. The match is part of the Friendlies 2026/2027 season.
Friendlies: Costa Rica 3–0 Northern Ireland
Costa Rica beat Northern Ireland 3-0 in Friendlies on June 3, 2018.
Goals: J. Venegas (30'), J. Campbell (46'), F. Calvo (66').
The match was played at Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in San Jose.