England vs Costa Rica Live Stream Free: Watch Online World Cup 2014 Football (ESPN 2 TV Start Time)
England will exit World Cup 2014 with a game against Costa Rica on Tuesday. Already eliminated from the tournament and currently bottom of Group D, England have announced they will make nine changes to the side that lost to Uruguay via a last minute goal last week. The game is scheduled to start at 12 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the ESPN 2 network, or online through free live stream (details below).
Daniel Sturridge will be one of the two players to keep his spot in the team. He will start up front, where as Wayne Rooney, who finally scored his first World Cup goal against Uruguay in his third World Cup, has been dropped from the team.
Joe Hart in goal has also been dropped, giving Ben Foster a chance at the back. The midfield is completely changed, with James Milner, Frank Lampard, Ross Barkley, Jack Wilshere and Adam Lallana coming into the team against a very strong Costa Rica team, which has shocked the World Cup so far by defeating both Uruguay and Italy.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
In defense Gary Cahill is the only player who maintains his place, and Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw have all been drafted into the starting line up for England in defense.
Frank Lampard will stand in as captain for the absent Steven Gerrard, and earn his 106th England cap.
Costa Rica have already qualified for the Last 16, but still have some work to do to ensure they finish as group winners. A single point from a draw will guarantee them top spot, but ahead of the game they have decided to rest a number of their starting 11 ahead of the Last 16.
Among those set to miss out on the England game are Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz.
The location for today's game is Belo Horizonte, which is remembered in England as being the place of one of their most humiliating results – a 0-1 defeat to the United States in the 1950 World Cup. At the time the USA team was still amateur, and when the results were reported back in England some believed there had been a printing error.
Now Belo Horizonte could return to haunt England in a different way. If they lose to Costa Rica they will be the first England squad ever to lose all three group games in a World Cup.
Despite the depressing nature of results for England in this year's World Cup, manager Roy Hodgson believes that there has been a lot of positives and enough shown by his young squad to be hopeful about. Hodgson has pointed to his side's performances as a big positive for how they can grow towards Euro 2016 now.
Most pundits praised the England performance against Italy, even though they ultimately fell short. Their game against Uruguay was not as satisfactory, although they would have secured a draw had they not suffered a sucker punch goal in the final minutes when a simple long ball over the top allowed Suarez to run through and smash in a winner.
Today's game between England and Costa Rica will kick off at 12 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the ESPN 2 network or online through free live stream by clicking here.
