Teams : Brazil,Switzerland,Costa Rica,Serbia
Brazil are clear favorites in this group but the other three teams can't be taken lightly.Switzerland has slight advantage and looks a balanced side.Costa Rica's prospects depends on their goal keeper and forward's form.Serbia has a defensive coach and if their forwards,primarily Mitrovic click they may make it to the next round.
Switzerland
Serbia
Fifa Ranks @ June 07,2018
Brazil : 2
Switzerland : 6
Costa Rica : 23
Serbia : 34
Brazil are clear favorites in this group but the other three teams can't be taken lightly.Switzerland has slight advantage and looks a balanced side.Costa Rica's prospects depends on their goal keeper and forward's form.Serbia has a defensive coach and if their forwards,primarily Mitrovic click they may make it to the next round.
Brazil
The 5 times World cup champion’s who are yet to miss a single world cup would want to make an impressive show and they come with a team for that.In the last World cup,their chances had literally ended once Neymar got injured and eventually their journey ended in the semis.This time they come with a better team and their coach has been able to work out an effective combination of the players.They have a team which suits attacking football with Neymar,Jesus & Firmino as forwards and Coutinho,Paulinho,Willian & Casemiro in the midfield.Two offensive wing backs in Marcelo and Danilo in place of Dani Alves may result in over-dependence on Thiago Silva and they will have to be careful in their defence.Roma's shot-stopper Alisson is their primary goalkeeper.They are coached by fellow Brazilian Tite who has a history of making brazilian club Corinthians Club World Cup champions.
This is Switzerland's 11th world cup and they have reached the quarter finals thrice.Their last quarter final was as back in1954.They could make it only to the Round of 16 in the last world cup.Their big players are Arsenal’s Xhaka and Stoke City’s Shaqiri.Also to be watched out for is their captain Lichtsteiner who is about to make 100 caps for the country.Their goalkeeping options Yann Sommer and Roman Burki are both among the top short stoppers in Bundesliga.They are coached by former Lazio coach from Bosnia-Herzegovinia Vladimir Petkovic who had made Lazio Coppa Italia champions in 2012-13.
Costa Rica
Costa rica is yet another team playing their fifth world cup.Their best result was the quarter finals in the last world cup.Bryan Ruiz,who was the captain and the star player in their last world cup still spearheads their attack.Their Goalkeeper Keylor Navas who plays for Real Madrid is their biggest star and his form is very crucial in their progress further.Former Costa rican player Oscar Ramirez has been coaching them from 2015.
This is Serbia’s second world cup as an independent nation and in the last world cup they could not go beyond the group level.They are led by AS Roma defender Kolarov and their biggest star is Manchester united’s midfielder Nemanja matic.Southampton midfielder Tadic and Fulham forward Mitrovic are interesting prospects too.Mladen Krstajic who was part of the 'Famous Four' defence of erstwhile Serbia & Montenegro and had played in 2006 World Cup now coaches them.
Brazil : 2
Switzerland : 6
Costa Rica : 23
Serbia : 34