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At the time of writing, CONCACAF had yet to make a decision about French Guiana fielding an ineligible player for its group stage match against Honduras. One would expect that decision to arrive in advance of this match kicking off, since any disciplinary action taken is likely to affect the standings in Group A and the teams have the right to know what they are playing for before starting the final games of their group stage.
It is assumed CONCACAF will take away the point French Guiana won against Honduras and award Los Catrachos a 3-0 win by forfeit. There may be other consequences as well. Or, the confederation might surprise us all and take the more sensible route of accepting French Guiana's argument that its star player, Florent Malouda, is not ineligible - thereby allowing the prior result to stand, and Malouda to play in this match.
The worst thing CONCACAF could do is defer any decision until after this round of games, throwing the final standings of Group A into doubt and also making it unclear how the race for one of the lucky-loser berths in the quarterfinals (two of the three third-placed teams from the groups will win through to the knockout rounds) will shake out. So we can hope CONCACAF at least avoids complicating the competition more than it already has with its mismanagement of its showpiece tournament.
Whatever CONCACAF decides to do, all eyes will be on the starting lineups to see if French Guiana puts Malouda on the field again. He made an impact on his team against Honduras, leading what seemed like a livelier effort than had been managed during the disappointing opening-game loss to Canada.
French Guiana was unlucky not to score against Honduras, and will fancy its chances of at least getting a goal against Costa Rica. And that might be sufficient to tax Los Ticos.
Costa Rica does not have its strongest team at this competition, but still looked like one of the stronger sides in the tournament on paper. But it hasn't been showing that strength in its results so far. The team has scored twice in two games, and needed to equalize against Canada.
And its attacking options have been further reduced by injuries to Johan Venegas and Joel Campbell.
#CostaRica was one of the #GoldCup2017 favorites but is being hit hard by injuries. First Oviedo, now Venegas and Campbell forced out. #CRC https://t.co/rXNt2wI4KT
— Jason Foster (@JogaBonitoUSA) July 12, 2017
Los Ticos are expected to win this match comfortably, but they haven't been particularly comfortable in either of their preceding games in this tournament. And French Guiana is as fond of upsetting opponents as it is of challenging CONCACAF's rule book.
Per livesoccertv.com, here's where to find the game if watching from the USA: