Costa Rica 0-1 Serbia: Aleksandar Kolarov's free-kick helps Eagles to World Cup win

The set piece strike from the Roma defender, formerly of Manchester City, was worthy of winning any match and leaves them 4/6 with Sky Bet to qualify for the knockout stages.

With the likes of Aleksandar Mitrovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Dusan Tadic in attack, the 32-year-old Serbia captain was the unlikely scorer - available at 18/1 to net first in pre-match betting.

It was an individual moment of quality which came just before the hour mark, giving the Eagles a deserved three points after a comfortable showing against the South Americans.

Costa Rica, who reached the quarter-finals in Brazil four years ago, paid the price for failing to make the most of some good chances in the first half.

Their frustrations spilled over in injury time as some members of their coaching staff became involved in heated exchanges with Serbia's Nemanja Matic over a throw-in on the touchline.

Goal video: Aleksandar Kolarov - Costa Rica 0-1 Serbia

Opta match facts

• After losing five consecutive World Cup games between 1998 and 2010, Serbia have since won two of their last three in the competition (L1).
• Serbia have won their opening game at a World Cup tournament for the first time since 1998, when they did so as Yugoslavia against Iran (1-0).
• Serbia have now won all four of their World Cup games against teams from the CONCACAF region, with the first three of those coming as Yugoslavia between 1950 and 1998.
• Costa Rica suffered their first defeat at the World Cup since 2006 (1-2 v Poland), ending a run of five games unbeaten in the competition (W2 D3).
• Aleksandar Kolarov’s goal for Serbia was the third direct free-kick scored at this year’s World Cup (after Russia’s Aleksandr Golovin and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo), which is already as many as there were in the entire 2014 tournament in Brazil.

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Odds correct as of 1500 BST 17/06/18

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