Brazil are expected to top Group E

World Cup Group E: Predictions, best bets and fixtures

Football

Sat June 16, 2018 · 7y ago

World Cup heavyweights Brazil are joined in Group E by Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia.

We have all the latest odds, fixture list, verdict and team-by-team guides right here.

Odds

Fixtures

Sunday June 17 - Costa Rica vs Serbia (1pm, ITV), Samara Arena, Samara

Sunday June 17 - Brazil vs Switzerland (7pm, ITV), Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don (pictured, below)

Friday June 22 - Brazil vs Costa Rica (1pm, ITV), Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg

Friday June 22 - Serbia vs Switzerland (7pm, BBC), Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad

Wednesday June 27 - Serbia vs Brazil (7pm, ITV), Otkrytie Arena, Moscow

Wednesday June 27 - Switzerland vs Costa Rica (7pm, ITV), Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod

All times stated in BST, to see more about the locations click here for our stadium guide

Verdict

A real chance for Brazil to storm this group and gather momentum going into the knockout stages.

The tournament favourites, tipped by Sporting Life in our outright tips, should have no issues in topping these standings and it is a question of who will join them.

World Cup outright betting preview and tips for Russia 2018

Switzerland, who reached the last 16 at Euro 2016, are the favourites to finish as runners-up and will be hoping Xherdan Shaqiri is on song.

Costa Rica are widely expected to finish bottom, but they will be hoping to repeat the 2014 tournament, where they finished ahead of England in the groups and went on to reach the quarter-finals.

Switzerland v Costa Rica in the final game could be the all-important match to decide who joins Brazil in advancing.

Group E Prediction: (6/1 with Sky Bet)

1. Brazil

2. Switzerland

3. Costa Rica

4. Serbia

Best bets

Serbia to finish bottom at 5/2

Brazil to win, Germany runner up at 22/1

Squads

Brazil | Full profile

Click here for all you need to know about Brazil ahead of the World Cup

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Roma), Ederson (Manchester City), Cassio (Corinthians).

Defenders: Danilo (Manchester City), Fagner (Corinthians), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG), Marquinhos (PSG), 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 (PSG), Taison (Shakhtar Donetsk), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool).

Switzerland | Full profile

Click on the image for all you need to know about Switzerland ahead of the World Cup in Russia

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), Haris Seferovic (Benfica).

Serbia | Full profile

Click on the image for all you need to know about Serbia ahead of the 2018 World Cup

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).

Strikers: Aleksandar Mitrovic (Newcastle United), Aleksandar Prijovic (PAOK Salonika), Luka Jovic (Benfica).

Costa Rica | Full profile

Click here for all you need to know about Costa Rica ahead of the World Cup in Russia

Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas (Real Madrid), Patrick Pemberton (Liga Deportiva Alajuelense), Leonel Moreira (C.S. Herediano).

Defenders: Cristian Gamboa (Celtic), Ian Smith (Santos de Guapiles F.C.), Ronald Matarrita (New York City), Bryan Oviedo (Sunderland), Oscar Duarte (Espanyol), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Bologna), Francisco Calvo (Minnesota United), Kendall Waston (Vancouver Whitecaps), Johnny Acosta (Rionegro Aguilas).

Midfielders: David Guzman (Portland Timbers), Yeltsin Tejeda (FC Lausanne-Sport), Celso Borges (Deportivo de La Coruna), Randall Azofeifa (C.S. Herediano), Rodney Wallace (New York City), Bryan Ruiz (Sporting CP), Daniel Colindres (Deportivo Saprissa), Christian Bolanos (Deportivo Saprissa).

Forwards: Johan Venegas (Deportivo Saprissa), Joel Campbell (Real Betis), Marco Urena (Los Angeles FC).