England to face Costa rica,Nigeria in world cup warm up

England will face Costa Rica in their final World
Cup warm-up game in June after Gareth
Southgate handpicked the Central American
nation as perfect preparation for the Russia 2018
clash against Panama in Nizhny Novgorod.
Costa Rica topped England's group at Brazil
2014, being held to a 0-0 draw by Roy
Hodgson's team in Belo Horizonte, before
suffering a penalty shootout elimination against
the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
And with England due to face World Cup
debutants Panama in their second Group G game
on June 24, manager Southgate has secured a
friendly against the Costa Ricans at Leeds
United's Elland Road stadium on June 7.
England will play two warm-up games in June
before flying to Russia, with the Football
Association also confirming a Wembley friendly
against Nigeria on June 2.
The England manager said: "We've mostly played
European opposition up to now and the Brazil
game acted as a reminder that we need to
challenge ourselves in different ways as a team.
"We're going into a World Cup where we will play
African and Central American opposition so we
get that with the games against Nigeria and
Costa Rica but it's not just about the games
we've got in the group but hopefully beyond that
as well. We want to expose the team to different
styles and different experiences."
On playing at Elland Road, he added: "We're
immensely proud to play the majority of matches
at Wembley as our national stadium and it's
always special. Equally, it's nice when we have
an opportunity to take the team on the road. We
have a huge following in Yorkshire with large
numbers of our members and travelling support
coming from that area."
Southgate's team, who made it to the finals with
an unbeaten record during the qualifying
campaign, are due to play Netherlands in
Amsterdam on March 27 before facing fellow
World Cup absentees Italy at Wembley four days
later.
Southgate had initially planned for three games in
June prior to the squad's departure for Russia,
but sources have told ESPN FC that he has now
settled on two fixtures in order to spend more
time fine-tuning the team's preparations at the
National Football Centre at St George's Park.
England, meanwhile, will discover their opponents
in the inaugural UEFA Nations League when the
draw is made for the tournament in Lausanne,
Switzerland, on Jan. 24.