BRAZIL • COSTA RICA • SERBIA • SWITZERLAND
JUNE 17
Costa Rica vs. Serbia
Brazil vs. Switzerland
JUNE 22
Brazil vs. Costa Rica
Serbia vs. Switzerland
JUNE 27
Switzerland vs. Costa Rica
Serbia vs. Brazil
Group E leader is, with no doubts, Brazil – who should qualify for the next round without a problem.
BRAZIL
The coach of the national team of Brazil is the Brazilian ADENOR LEONARDO BACCHI, commonly known as Tite.
Brazil is a team that is very familiar with the World Cup tournaments, being the only team that has played in every single tournament since the beginning. Brazil is the most successful national team in the history of the World Cup, they have won 5 times.
Packed with superstars like Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Paulinho, Philippe Coutinho, Dani Alves, Marcelo etc; they have one of the best squads this year. With such a team, they are said to have the best chance of winning this year’s World Cup.
COSTA RICA FIFA RANKING: 26
The national team of Costa Rica coach is ÓSCAR RAMÍREZ
Costa Rica put on a very good performance at the World Cup in 2014. They are a very ambitious team but tend to score less than other teams. They had a lackluster performance in the qualification rounds but managed to qualify. They also struggled in the friendly games.
Most of their players from 2014 are still in the squad. Their best players are the goalkeeper superstar Keylor Navas, Bryan Ruiz, and Joel Campbell.
SERBIA FIFA RANKING: 37
The coach of the national team of Serbia is MLADEN KRSTAJI
Serbia failed to qualify for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups but this year their qualifying campaign was very successful – they only lost one game, giving Serbian fans high hopes for this year’s tournament.
Overall, Serbia has a very strong and ambitious squad. Their best players are the veterans Branislav Ivanović, captain Aleksandar Kolarov, and Nemanja Matić. Also, we have to mention Dušan Tadić and youngsters Aleksandar Mitrović and Sergej Milinković-Savin.
SWITZERLAND FIFA RANKING: 8
The coach of the national team of Switzerland is the Bosnian-Herzegovinian VLADIMIR PETKOVIĆ.
The Swiss had a very easy group to defeat in the qualification rounds – Hungary, Faroe Islands, Latvia and Andorra. They managed to qualify without an issue – scoring 23 goals and conceding 7.
Their best players are midfielders Xherdan Shaqiri, Steven Zuber, defenders Stephan Lichtsteiner and Ricardo Rodríguez, and striker Xhaka .
Based off of their performances against average teams in the qualification rounds, they are likely to find it difficult to qualify for the next round against their higher calibre oppositions.