Football Results

Competition in group “E” at the world football championship will be opened by Costa Rica and Serbia, two teams that have been declared for outsiders in this group, which is also logical, because there is also the fifth time world champion Brazil in the group, as well as Switzerland, so it can be said that this introductory duel may be crucial to both teams. The defeated team would probably remain without placement in the finals, while as for their friendly matches before the World Cup, Costa Rica has recorded a win and two defeats, while Serbia once won and lost. These two teams have not played together so far.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is before this World Cup remembering the last, when they were a real sensation and they even reached the quarterfinals, though they were eliminated in the group stage, where they even had a much heavier task than now. They managed to be first in front of Uruguay, Italy and England, and later to eliminate Greece in the round of sixteen. It was a real miracle that is now really hard to repeat, although they are not without prospects in this first duel. Serbia is an opponent against whom they can parry, but only if they play as in those two matches against Americans in qualifiers, or in friendly duels with teams of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Those were two preparatory matches in which they celebrated victories, while they were defeated in the remaining five. Especially painful was that defeat from Spain with 5-0, while they were right before the World Cup defeated by England and Belgium. They were pretty bad in those two matches, they managed to win against Belgium, after which they lost with 4-1. B.Ruiz has played and scored one goal, who is one of the biggest stars of this national team, with goalkeeper Navas. They will play in a somewhat more closed formation compared to the match against Belgium, while returns Guzman instead of Tejeda.

Probable lineups Costa Rica: Navas – Gamboa, Gonzalez, Acosta, O.Duarte, Oviedo – Borges, Guzman, Bolanos, B.Ruiz – Urena

Serbia

Serbia plays its second world championship as an independent state, and on that first in 2010 they were eliminated after the group stage. Interestingly, they managed to defeat the strong Germany, but it did not help them to qualify in the round of sixteen. What they did not do in South Africa, they hope to be able to do in Russia, where they have come full of confidence, first of all because of their excellent game in qualifiers, where they were only defeated once. The group was very unpleasant and it wasn’t easy to win the first place and qualify directly. And when all seemed idiotic, they totally unexpectedly changed their coach Slavoljub Muslin brought Mladen Krstajic instead.

Under his leadership they played four friendly matches and they achieved a half effect. At their March gathering, they played against two African national teams and lost to Morocco, but defeated Nigeria. Right before the World Cup, they played against two South American teams on neutral ground in Graz and lost from the combined composition of Chile, while they in the general check mastered Bolivia with 5-1, which has maximally raised their confidence. Defensive player Ivanovic has returned to the team after his injury and even scored one goal against Bolivia, but remained in the shadow of striker Mitrovic, who shook his opponent's net three times. Their biggest problem at the moment is the injury of center-back Nastasi, so coach Krstajic is having a dilemma whether to start with Ivanovic on the center-back or right back.

Probable lineups Serbia: Stojkovic – Rukavina, Ivanovic, D.Tosic, Kolarov – Matic, Milinkovic-Savic – Tadic, Ljajic, Kostic – A.Mitrovic

Verdict:

For both teams this is a game that practically determines their further destiny and defeat would not be good at all, while victory opens up various possibilities. That is why we expect a lot of goals in this match, but it can be said that Serbia is a mild favourite because of their individual quality.

Pick: over 2 goals 1.83 - 83/100 @1XBet