World Cup Preview – Group E | Serbia v Brazil – Switzerland v Costa Rica

Group E has produced a wonderful finish with Serbia, Brazil and Switzerland battling for the two qualifying spaces going into the final group game.

Brazil and Switzerland sit on four points, with Serbia on three whilst Costa Rica are already out having lost their opening two games.

Brazil face Serbia knowing victory will take them through, but defeat would see them go out if Switzerland only draw with Costa Rica. Should Costa Rica win, then a draw between Brazil and Serbia would take them through.

A Swiss win guarantees them progress no matter what happens in Moscow between Brazil and Serbia.

Brazil have had to battle hard for their four points thus far and coach Tite admits the game is of massive importance, saying: “This game is going to be decisive. Our continuity in this tournament depends fundamentally on this match.”

Serbian coach Mladen Krstajic insists his side are relishing the prospect of facing Brazil and potentially knocking them out.

“We can not wait to play against Brazil, we will not surrender, we will give everything we have, so we will see what the result will be,” he said.

“We have a chance to compete with Brazil. There is nothing better than that.”

Switzerland boss Vladimir Petkovic insists his side have to take Costa Rica seriously.

“It is an adversary that does not want to go home with zero points. They are under pressure, but we want to focus on our own team and we will try to get this result on the field,” he said.

Costa Rica coach Oscar Ramirez said: “Unfortunately we have not played like we did in 2014 and I think the main thing is that we were not able to finish our opportunities.”

See below for a preview on the games, including predictions from former England and Tottenham midfielder Andy Gray and our own Football Insider Graeme Bailey and bet365’s Steve Freeth.

Serbia 19:00 Brazil
Spartak Stadium, Moscow
Live on ITV

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS:
Serbia: Vladimir Stojkovic; Antonio Rukavina, Branislav Ivanovic, Dusko Tosic, Aleksandar Kolarov; Nemanja Matic, Luka Milivojevic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Dusan Tadic, Filip Kostic; Aleksandar Mitrovic

Brazil: Alisson; Fagner, Miranda, Thiago Silva, Marcelo; Casemiro, Paulinho; Willian, Philippe Coutinho, Neymar; Gabriel Jesus

KEY FACT: Brazil have only managed one victory in their past seven World Cup games against European opposition
Match odds from bet365: SERBIA 6/1 DRAW 10/3 BRAZIL 8/15
bet365 Pick: Over 2.5 goals @19/20
ANDY SAYS: Don’t see Brazil making any mistakes here and they will come away with the win…0-2
GRAEME SAYS: This could be a close one, but I think Brazil will just edge it…1-2
FOOTBALLIndex – One to follow: Neymar – number one on the Index for a reason

Switzerland 19:00 Costa Rica
Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod
Live on ITV

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS:
Switzerland: Yann Sommer; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Fabian Schar, Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez; Valon Behrami, Granit Xhaka; Xherdan Shaqiri, Blerim Dzemaili, Steven Zuber; Mario Gavranovic.

Costa Rica: Keylor Navas; Johnny Acosta, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Oscar Duarte, Bryan Oviedo, Cristian Gamboa; Celso Borges, David Guzman, Bryan Ruiz, Christian Bolanos; Marco Urena. ​

KEY FACT: The Swiss are unbeaten in their previous four World Cup games against sides from Concacaf
Match odds from bet365: SWITZERLAND 8/11 DRAW 12/5 COSTA RICA 11/2
bet365 Pick: Under 2.5 goals @3/5
ANDY SAYS: Switzerland will have too much for Costa Rica and claim the win with ease…2-0
GRAEME SAYS: I don’t see it being an easy game but the Swiss will get the three points they are looking for 1-0
FOOTBALLIndex – One to follow: Granit Xhaka – playing well and plenty of value left in the Index

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