Group E
Brazil
How qualified – First in CONMEBOL Group
Best performance – Winners in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 & 2002
Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Alisson (Roma), Ederson (Manchester City), Cassio (Corinthians).
DEFENDERS: Danilo (Manchester City), Fagner (Corinthians), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva, Marquinhos (both Paris St-Germain), Miranda (Inter Milan) Pedro Geromel (Gremio).
MIDFIELDERS: Casemiro (Real Madrid), Fernandinho (Manchester City), Paulinho (Barcelona), Fred (Shakhtar Donetsk), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona), Willian (Chelsea), Douglas Costa (Juventus).
FORWARDS: Neymar Jr (Paris St-Germain), Taison (Shakhtar Donetsk), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool).
Costa Rica
How qualified – Second in CONCAF Group
Best performance – Quarter-finals in 2014
Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Keylor Navas (Real Madrid), Patrick Pemberton (Liga Deportiva Alajuelense), Leonel Moreira (Herediano).
DEFENDERS: Cristian Gamboa (Celtic), Ian Smith (Norrkoping), Ronald Matarrita (New York City), Bryan Oviedo (Sunderland), Oscar Duarte (Espanyol), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Bologna), Francisco Calvo (Minnesota United), Kendall Waston (Vancouver Whitecaps), Johnny Acosta (Aguilas Dorados).
MIDFIELDERS: David Guzman (Portland Timbers), Yeltsin Tejeda (Lausanne-Sport), Celso Borges (Deportivo La Coruna), Randall Azofeifa (Herediano), Rodney Wallace (New York City), Bryan Ruiz (Sporting Lisbon), Daniel Colindres, Christian Bolanos (both Saprissa).
FORWARDS: Johan Venegas (Saprissa), Joel Campbell (Real Betis), Marco Urena (Los Angeles FC).
Serbia
How qualified – Won UEFA Group D
Best performance – Fourth Place as former Yugoslavia in 1930 & 1964
Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Vladimir Stojkovic (Partizan Belgrade), Predrag Rajkovic (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Marko Dmitrovic (Eibar)
DEFENDERS: Aleksandar Kolarov (AS Roma), Branislav Ivanovic (Zenit St. Petersburg), Dusko Tosic (Guangzhou R&F), Antonio Rukavina (Villarreal), Milos Veljkovic (Werder Bremen), Milan Rodic (Red Star Belgrade), Uros Spajic (Krasnodar), Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina).
MIDFIELDERS: Nemanja Matic (Manchester United), Luka Milivojevic (Crystal Palace), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio), Marko Grujic (Liverpool), Adem Ljajic (Torino), Dusan Tadic (Southampton), Filip Kostic (Hamburg SV), Andrija Zivkovic (Benfica), Nemanja Radonjic (Red Star Belgrade).
FORWARDS: Aleksandar Mitrovic (Newcastle United), Aleksandar Prijovic (PAOK Salonika), Luka Jovic (Benfica).
Switzerland
How qualified – UEFA Playoffs
Best performance – Quarter-finals in 1954
Squad
GOALKEEPERS: Roman Buerki (Borussia Dortmund), Yvon Mvogo (Leipzig), Yann Sommer (Borussia Monchengladbach).
DEFENDERS: Manuel Akanji (Borussia Dortmund), Johan Djourou (Antalyaspor), Nico Elvedi (Borussia Monchengladbach), Michael Lang (Basel), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Jacques-Francois Moubandje (Toulouse), Ricardo Rodriguez (Milan), Fabian Schaer (Deportivo La Coruna).
MIDFIELDERS: Valon Behrami (Udinese), Blerim Dzemaili (Bologna), Gelson Fernandes (Eintracht Frankfurt), Remo Freuler (Atalanta), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City), Granit Xhaka (Arsenal), Steven Zuber (1899 Hoffenheim), Denis Zakaria (Borussia Monchengladbach).
FORWARDS: Josip Drmic (Borussia Monchengladbach), Breel Embolo (Schalke), Mario Gavranovic (Dinamo Zagreb)
Fixtures
17 June
- Costa Rica vs. Serbia (1pm, ITV)
- Brazil vs. Switzerland (7pm, ITV)
22 June
- Brazil vs. Costa Rica (1pm, ITV)
- Serbia vs. Switzerland (7pm, BBC)
27 June
- Serbia vs. Brazil (7pm, ITV)
- Switzerland vs. Costa Rica (7pm, ITV4)
Group Preview
Brazil are all the rage in Group E of the competition and if football were played on paper they wouldn’t even bother turning up to compete in the group, they would win it by a landslide. However football isn’t played on paper so they will need to turn up and show their class but even in a tournament primed for upsets I don’t see one occurring here. Brazil will qualify but the race to go through in behind them will be fascinating and will be the main story in this group. Switzerland and Serbia will be showcase their talents while Costa Rica will be out to remind everyone why they were quarter finalists in the last World Cup.
Group Betting
You won’t get very rich backing Brazil to win this group and while there was a part of me that was happy backing them to pick up all nine points in the section there is a chance they will have the group won before the final match and I don’t really want to see them labouring to a draw having rested a few when my hard earned is down on them.
That leaves the race to finish second as the focus of my betting attention here where I fancy Serbia to get the better of the other two. I don’t believe Switzerland offer enough of a threat in front of goal while although Costa Rica are a technical outfit they don’t strike me as the sort of team who can chase a game if they go behind. Serbia have enough in defensive areas and then moving forward they look the pick of the teams behind Brazil. At 11/5 I think the Brazil-Serbia forecast is where I want to be.
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Team Bets
I’m sticking to my Serbian theme in the team bets too with their top goalscorer market the place to target. Aleksandar Mitrovic arrives at the tournament in tip top form after excelling for Fulham in the Championship and he banged in a hat trick against Bolivia in a warm up match recently too but in a group which could be tight and low scoring for the Serbians I want to be on his teammate who plays for Southampton, Dusan Tadic.
I get the feeling Tadic has never been completely happy or settled at Southampton so he could be looking at this tournament as a shop window to get away to bigger things. He led Serbian scoring in qualifying and is likely to be on penalties for them. He has pace and the tricks to go past a player and he is the sort of man who can feed on any second balls around Mitrovic. At 6/1 he’s the value alternative to the main man.
Tips
Back Brazil-Serbia Straight Forecast for a 3/10 stake at 3.20 with TLCBet
Back it here:
Back D.Tadic Top Serbia Tournament Goalscorer for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with Bet365
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