Brazil vs Costa Rica Preview

Brazil came into this World Cup as favourites just like in any other edition, however, their first game didn’t go to plan as they were held to 1-1 draw by Switzerland.

The Selecao had the possession to win the game and when they took the lead via a Philippe Countinho wonder goal, it appeared as if they would get off to a winning start, but Switzerland were not giving up without a fight.

The Europeans equalized and man-marked all of Brazil’s danger men all over the field and it worked well as the South Americans were frustrated from then on.

Costa Rica will most likely not be as tough as the Swiss were, but with Neymar a major doubt for this game, it will be interesting to see how the Brazilians perform without their star man. Can Coutinho take the lead?

Costa Rica surprisingly topped the group of death at the last World Cup, ahead of England, Italy and Uruguay.

This time around they don’t look anywhere near the standard they set for themselves four years ago.

In their opener against Serbia they looked devoid of ideas going forward and were under siege by Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic from the start of the game before losing 1-0 and it could have been more.

They lost 4-0 to Belgium in one of their warm up games and conceded 5 goals against Spain last year.

They face a Brazil side that has scored 16 times in their last 8 games.

It will be a tough battle for Costa Rica to survive without being drubbed and the odds suggest that with Brazil strong odds-on favourites.

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

Brazil

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
D	Brazil		1-1		Switzerland	17 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
W	Austria		0-3		Brazil	10 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
W	Brazil		2-0		Croatia	3 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
W	Germany		0-1		Brazil	27 Mar, 2018	International Friendly
W	Russia		0-3		Brazil	23 Mar, 2018	International Friendly

Costa Rica

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
L	Costa Rica		0-1		Serbia	17 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
L	Belgium		4-1		Costa Rica	11 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
L	England		2-0		Costa Rica	7 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
W	Costa Rica		3-0		Northern Ireland	3 Jun, 2018	International Friendly
L	Tunisia		1-0		Costa Rica	27 Mar, 2018	International Friendly

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