TORONTO—You can expect Benito Floro to stick to his tactical guns when Canada takes on Costa Rica in its final group stage game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The Canadian coach has come in for a fair bit of criticism from both fans and media alike for his cautious tactics after the Reds failed to score through their first two matches of the tournament, a goal-less draw against El Salvador and a 1-0 loss to Jamaica.

But Floro doesn’t seem overly concerned, nor does it appear he’s going to change the team’s style of play for Tuesday’s crucial encounter against Costa Rica at BMO Field.

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Canada sits bottom of Group B with one point, behind Jamaica (four points), and Costa Rica and El Salvador (two points apiece). Jamaica plays El Salvador at BMO Field prior to Canada’s game. The top two teams advance to the quarterfinals, while the two best third-place sides in the three-group, 12-team tournament also move on.

There are lots of permutations in play for the Reds depending on what happens in Group A action on Monday night and how the Jamaica-El Salvador match shakes out—Canada could clinch a quarterfinal berth with a draw under a number of scenarios. A win, though, would guarantee them a spot in the next round.

Floro has played with the handbrake on at this Gold Cup, and only deployed one striker in a 4-1-4-1 formation against two beatable opponents in El Salvador and Jamaica. He’s also made some questionable player selections, favouring pedestrian central midfielders Samuel Piette and Kyle Bekker over the more dynamic Russell Teibert and Jonathan Osorio.

Surely the time has come to take a chance and play with two forwards in order to put more pressure on Costa Rica’s back line? Why not start either Teibert or Osorio (or both), instead of bringing them on as second-half substitutes?

Floro, though, doesn’t plan on making wholesale changes, and maintains that sticking with his current team structure that stresses defensive organization is the way to go.

“I think it’s normal. Soccer is a game with (a lot of opinions) from spectators and journalists. Everyone can have an idea about how to play. But we have created a structure that depends on the quality of the players,” Floro told reporters after the team’s training session on Monday.

“We don’t have the skill or competitiveness of (other teams) but we resolve that with a structure, which means a formation with good balance to allow us to attack. Our forwards, and wingers and fullbacks are constantly trying to get into 2v1 (situations), but if we don’t have a strong (defensive) base, that would be impossible.”

Central defender Dejan Jakovic agrees with his coach’s assessment, saying: “We need to win but that doesn’t mean we’re going to go all out—we have to play smart.”

Asked what Canada must do to win on Tuesday, Floro simply answered: “To play well in attack, to make a good pressing (press Costa Rica) and to have luck.”

Floro wouldn’t tip his hand if Teibert or Osorio will start against Costa Rica. What we do know for sure is that he’ll be forced into making two lineup changes due to the suspensions of right fullback Nik Ledgerwood and midfielder Samuel Piette, both for yellow card accumulation.

Scoring has been the main problem for Canada at this Gold Cup, but that’s not to say the Reds haven’t had chances. Both Cyle Larin (against El Salvdor) and Tosaint Ricketts (vs. Jamaica) spurned glorious scoring opportunities that they should have buried after being played in alone on goal.

Still, those scoring opportunities have been few between, which means Canadian players have to be more composed when presented with a chance to score.

“It’s more a question of having self belief in one-on-one chances, and in creating chances,” veteran midfielder Julian de Guzman stated. “It becomes harder on ourselves when we miss chances that we really should have scored on”

Costa Rica is ranked No. 41 in the FIFA world rankings, the third-highest ranked team in CONCACAF. Canada is at No. 103.

According to FIFA statistics, Los Ticos lead the all-time series against the Reds with eight wins and seven draws in 19 games. Costa Rica won the previous meeting—a 2013 friendly in Edmonton—and hasn’t lost to Canada since the group stage of the 2003 Gold Cup.