World Cup Group E Preview and Best Bet

Welcome to Part 5 of my World Cup preview where I will take a look at Group E.

In this series I will go through each group and give you my quick thoughts on each team as well as my prediction of the final standings.

Once through the groups I will preview my predicted 2nd round match ups and work through to my predicted 2018 World Cup Winner.

For those of you that like a bet I will also include my cheeky 5ver best bet for each group.

So be sure to check back in on my page as we lead up the World Cup.

Group E Prediction

1st Brazil
2nd Serbia

Switzerland
Costa Rica

Costa Rica

The Tico's were the surprise package of the last World Cup after they finished top in a Group containing Uruguay & England and made it through to the Quarter Finals.
Costa Rica continued that strong form on the World Stage into World Cup Qualifying where they were only beaten twice and finished 2nd overall to safely book their passage to Russia.

Their star man would definitely be their Goal Keeper who is none other than the Real Madrid number 1 man, Kaylor Navas.
They also boast a handful of players that ply their trade in Europe and the rest mostly in the MLS.
They have the talented Joel Campbell up front who is technically still owned by Arsenal but spent the season in La Liga at Real Betis.
Campbell scored a couple of goals in Qualifying but the Costa Rica do not rely heavily on any one stiker and share the goals around.
Marco Ureña of MLS side LA was their top scorer in qualifying with 3, while Christian Bolaños, Johan Venegas and Kendall Waston also got a couple each.

Taking a look at the rest of their squad and their Midfield will be led by the ultra hard working and creative Bryan Ruiz who plays for Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.
Ruiz is a fantastic all round player in the centre of the park and you can bet he will be creating chances for his side.
Saprissa's Christian Bolaños will also feed some good balls into the box and can score a goal himself.
Celso Borges of Deportivo La Coruna in the Spanish La Liga will anchor the Midfield and the 30 year old veteran brings an experienced calm head to the side.

Their Defence is a worry as despite possessing one of the best Goal Keepers in the World, they will have trouble keeping a clean sheet especially against the better sides.
Panama were able to put 2 past them on the last day of qualifying much to the USA's horror.
Costa Rica have since won 2, lost 2 but the wins came against non qualified nations in Scotland & Northern Ireland while the losses were against qualified Tunisia & England.

All in all Costa Rica have drawn a tough Group where they will struggle to keep clean sheets and I don't think they have the goals in them to win any sort of shootout.
While I am wary of under estimating them after their last World Cup, I just can't seem them repeating that effort here and I think they will finish at the bottom of this Group.

Players to Watch

Bryan Ruiz
Joel Campbell
Keylor Navas

Switzerland

The ever reliable Swiss team are always competitive, beat who they should beat, run the bigger teams close and always get the job done in qualifying.
Switzerland did not do much wrong in qualifying winning an amazing 9 games with just the 1 loss.
They finished equal top with Portugal on 27 points but missed the auto qualifying spot on goal difference.
This meant a nervy sudden death play off against Northern Ireland over 2 legs but the Swiss Defence did the job and kept a clean sheet in both games.
A Rodriguez away goal penalty was enough to book their ticket to Russia.

The Swiss have a talented side with plenty of players from the big leagues in Europe but their problem is the same one they have had for the last decade, they lack firepower up front.
They can beat up on minnows but when they are in the high pressure match ups, it is a real problem for the Swiss and they often rely on a moment of brilliance (usually from Shaqiri) combined with a strong defence to get them through games.
Will 21 year old Forward Breel Embolo be the answer in front of goal?
Schalke originally paid 22.5 Million Euros to Basel for him and he has showed promise in the Bundesliga but is yet to become a prolific scorer.

The Swiss Midfield lacks a little on star power but is loaded with good players from big leagues with Shaqiri being the pick of them and the man most capable of the spectacular.
He is currently a Stoke listed player but with their relegation, some of the biggest clubs in the world are circling with Liverpool apparently the keenest.
The Swiss also possesses the very classy Granit Xhaka of Arsenal who will be pulling the strings in the middle of the park and an experienced option in Behrami of Udinese.
They then have further depth with a couple more that also ply their trade in Calcio A and German Bundesliga trio of Zuber, Zakaria and Gelson Fernandes.

Down back they are solid enough at Centre Back and only conceded the 7 goals in Qualifying (2nd in their Division) but l am not confident they will hold up against the better teams.
They do however possess a couple of World Class full backs in Juventus's veteran Lichtsteiner and Ricardo Rodriguez of AC Milan.
Those two also possess a real attacking threat and can set up some big moves from Defence.

All in all it is a very close call for that 2nd qualifying spot behind Brazil but I just think the Swiss's lack of firepower up front and potential vulnerabilities in the centre of Defence will see them heading home early.

Players to Watch

Shaqiri
Embolo
Xhaka

Serbia

The Serbs return to the World Cup after missing out in 2014 and were very strong in Qualifying.
In an extremely competitive and difficult Group D that also contained, Republic of Ireland, Austria and a red hot Wales team coming off a successful effort in Euro 2016, the Serbs would not of been favoured to make it.
However their offence (that's right not Defence) was the difference as the Serbs blasted in 20 goals which was 6 clear of the 2nd highest scoring team to overpower their opponents.
Serbia only lost the one game and finished top of the Group, 2 points clear of Ireland.

Whilst their offence despite the lack of any big names gets the plaudits, their Defence is still very solid and is helped out massively by Man United's Nemandja Matic in the Central Defensive Midfield position.
There are not many Defensive Midfielders better than Matic and he is not shy a lash on goal either if given the space.
The Serbs also have experience in Defence with ex Man City Kolarov at Left back who will Captain the side and ex Chelsea Defender Branislav Ivanovic who is versatile enough to play Centre or Full Back.

While Matic is the Defensive minded engine of the Midfield, Lazio's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is the attacking engine.
Milinkovic-Savic was brilliant in the Calcio A this season and is tipped to move to a bigger club in the off season, notably Man United who have been linked to him.
Milinkovic-Savic can not only create them but he also scores goals and he'll be sure to have opposition Defences on red alert.
Serbian striker Mitrovic is also in red hot form since moving to Fulham in the 2nd half of the season.
He scored 12 goals in the back half of the Championship season to steer Fulham to promotion and scored a hat trick in his last game for Serbia.

Serbia have mixed their form in the Friendlies heading into Russia with 2 wins and 2 draws but I think when the real stuff starts we will see the sharper Serbia from the qualifying campaign.
I think they have enough weapons to get out of this Group and finish 2nd.

Players to Watch

Matic
Mitrovic
Milinkovic-Savic

Brazil

The team everyone loves watching the most apart from their own country of course, Brazil are back at the World Cup seeking redemption for that 1-7 failure at home in 2014.
Brazil sacked their coach after a wobbly start to qualifying and brought in Tito who has united the team and got them back to their breathtaking best.
By the end of the tricky South American qualifying Brazil were a massive 10 points clear on top of the ladder and had scored 41 goals (9 clear of 2nd).
What was also interesting to see is they only conceded 11 goals which was 5 lower than the next best and shows Tito has injected in a little Defensive discipline to go with the flair.
Does that mean no more Luiz marauding up the field from Centre back?
We definitely won't see that as he has not been included in their squad with Tito preferring PSG's Defensive pairing of Tiago Silva and Marquinhos who have great chemistry from working with each other at club level.
We will however expect to see Full Back Marcelo charging up the field joining the attacks like he loves to do and exactly how much license he gets from Tito will be interesting to see.

In the Midfield, Brazil are littered with super stars as always with Willian & Coutino offering the attacking flair and Real Madrid's Casemiro and/or Barcelona's Paulinho the engine behind them.
Neymar will get all the attention up Forward and rightfully so after his 19 goals from 20 appearances in Ligue 1 regular season.
Neymar is capable of the incredible and can breeze by Defenders like they are not even there.
Gabriel Jesus can't be ignored though and he has stricken up a great partnership with Neymar.
The two work really well together and complement each other perfectly.
It would not be a surprise to see them go 1 & 2 in the Golden Boot.

Brazil's form in the Friendlies leading up to the Tournament has also been flawless with wins over Germany, Russia, Croatia and Austria.
Brazil have all the weapons needed to go all the way to win this World Cup and deserve to be favourites.
I would be very surprised if they dropped any points in this Group on the way to topping it.

Players to Watch

Neymar
Jesus
Coutinho

Cheeky 5ver Best Bet

Gabriel Jesus to win the Golden Boot

ODDS: 18-1

Why?

Jesus scored 13 goals in the Premier League for Man City this season and has edged ahead of Aguero in the pecking order which is no mean feat.
He scored the most goals for Brazil in World Cup qualifying and often gets on the end of some Neymar magic to play him in.
Brazil will be sure to go a long way in this Tournament so Jesus will get plenty of chances to add to his tally.

That's it for Group E and thank you for reading.

Be sure to check back soon for the next group.

Dahmsy79