Spain vs Costa Rica: Will Navas play in Group E opener?

The Costa Rica goalkeeper has struggled with a back issue recently.

Keylor Navas will be available for Costa Rica in their World Cup opener against Spain on Wednesday.

Navas hasn’t played for Paris Saint-Germain this season as Christophe Galtier prefers to use Gianluigi Donnarumma as his No.1 keeper. But the World Cup could see the veteran goalkeeper salvage his campaign.

A lower back issue saw Navas stay out of Costa Rica’s team training. Concerns over his fitness intensified with a few negative updates last week.

However, assistant manager Ronald Gomez has revealed the former Real Madrid star will be back in time for his side’s World Cup opener.

“We already know all about Keylor Navas, we won’t doubt him now as we know his capacity,” Gomez said on Saturday.

“He has had some pain in his back, but it is already solved, so we now expect him to play in the matches and offer what he has always given to us, which is reliability and good management of games.”

Costa Rica are winless in their last six games in the World Cup. Competing alongside Spain, Germany, and Japan, they are certainly the group’s underdogs.

However, their memorable performances in the 2014 tournament suggest we shouldn’t easily dismiss their chances in Qatar.