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Match Preview: Costa Rica vs Serbia, Group E, June 17

An important match in deciding the fate of group E takes place on Sunday, June 17th at 8am Eastern time at Samara Stadium in Samara, as Costa Rica and Serbia go head to head. The two teams are close in the FIFA rankings, with Costa Rica at 25 and Serbia at 35. However, odds for this match favor Serbia by a slight margin. For the most up to date information on World Cup betting odds go here, where you can find info on group betting and World Cup futures and prop bets. This game will have major implications on which two teams make it out of this group, as Brazil should lock up the number 1 spot fairly easily, and the number two spot will be a tossup between Costa Rica, Serbia and Switzerland.

Serbia

Since gaining independence, Serbia has qualified for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, but missed out on Brazil 2014. This time around they made no mistake in wrapping up qualification, going 6-3-1 in a group that included the Republic of Ireland and Wales, who both fielded strong teams that surprised in the Euro 2016 tournament. During qualifying, they amassed 20 goals as a team, eight more than the second place Republic of Ireland. Despite the success, there was a managerial conflict over player personnel, and late last year Mladen Krstajic took over for Slavoljub Muslin. Since the takeover, Serbia has gone 2-1-1 in the international friendly matches, but the team is playing well and receiving contributions from its key players.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica has been an emerging force in world football for the last couple of decades. After years of obscurity, they earned World Cup berths in 1990, 2002, and 2006. The 1990 team advanced out of the group stage by beating Scotland and Sweden but lost in the round of 16 to the former Czechoslovakia. Coming into the qualifiers for Russia 2018, Costa Rica received a bye to the fourth round along with five other teams who were ranked 1-6. There, Costa Rica was placed in a group along with Panama, Haiti and Jamaica. Each team played each other twice, and Costa Rica won that group, going undefeated 5-1-0. From there, Costa Rica qualified for the 5th and final round of 6 teams. Again, each team played each other twice, and Costa Rica again produced a winning record of 4-4-2, including a 4-0 win over the United States and a 1-1 draw with Mexico. That record was good enough to earn them the #2 spot in the standings and a trip to Russia 2018.

Match Overview

While there is no match history between these two teams and no common rivals in the last year, it is difficult to say how they will match up. Both are have competent and experienced players on the international club circuits, and are capable of making it to the knockout round. However, they are both odds-against underdogs to make it out of the group stage, behind Brazil and Switzerland in group E. That means that a loss in this game will likely spell death for one of the teams. Predicting the winner of this match may come down to who can best handle the pressure.

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Group Phase