Group E saw Brazil secure their spot in the knockout stage and Serbia and Switzerland go head to head in one of the best matches from the tournament so far.
Brazil
Brazil has advanced to the round of 16 after defeating Costa Rica
First Half
The first half started in a pretty even way, not much was happening, but it was an even match. Costa Rica’s Celso Borges had the first chance of the game. He missed the goal.
Costa Rica gained possession of the ball but they were not as effective at getting into the box as the Brazilians. However, Brazil’s shots seemed to be no problem for goalie Keylor Navas, who handled them with ease for the most part.
The ball found the back of the net thanks to Gabriel Jesus, nonetheless the linesman called it offside. No goal
Costa Rica–Like many other teams around the world, had to get physical with Neymar, stopping him with fouls. However, this did not stop Brazil’s squad as they were extremely fast at counter attacking. The Brazilians later lower down their pace of play, that plus very good defense by Costa Rica helped the Tico squad keep the score tied.
The scoreboard showed 0-0 by the end of the first set of 45.
Second Half
The second half started with plenty of offense from both sides. Just two minutes after the initial whistle there was scramble inside Costa Rica’s box. Thus, resulting in Neymar making contact with Navas.
As the game kept moving along, so did Navas kept denying the goal for the Brazilians, keeping hopes alive for Costa Rica.
The game reached its final 20 minutes and the Costa Rican defense was showing cracks. Trough balls made the Costa Rica’s last line struggle a little more with every attack Brazil started.
Nearing the 80th minute Neymar fell down near the edge of the box. It was presumably a penalty until VAR overturned the call. Not a penalty, just a dive.
Pressure finally bent Costa Rica on aggregate. Philippe Coutinho finally put the ball into the net at the 91st minute. Brazil was up by one.
Neymar did the same as the Brazil XI scored another late goal to secure the win.
Final score after 90 minutes: Brazil 2-0 Costa Rica
Serbia
It was a fantastic game with a dramatic finish.
First Half
It was a very active, action packed first half. So far, it has to be one of the most entertaining halves of the tournament. Swiss player Gaetano Berardi was the first man to shot on goal. That one would be the first one of many more to come.
Serbia started off strong controlling ball possession and the pace of play. They were quick playing next to the touchlines and was hard for the Swiss defense to keep up.
Serbia’s dominance became even more evident as forward Aleksandar Mitrovic scored early off a header. Serbia was up by one after just 5 minutes of play.
Serbia kept controlling the match for about 20 more minutes. Near the half hour mark, things would change.
Switzerland then went on the offense. While the Swiss forwards were very active, they could not find the back to the net. That was largely thanks to Serbian goalie Predrag Rajkovic
Despite Switzerland’s numerous attempts to score, both teams headed to the showers with the score 1-0
Second Half
The second half started off as exciting as the first one since the Swiss equalizer took no time to arrive.
Granit Xhaka evened out the score for Switzerland. The Arsenal midfielder stroke a stunner to put the score 1-1
Serbia then lower the pace of play. They seemed a bit clumsy playing wide despite still generating chances. On the other hand, Switzerland became even more dangerous on the attacks despite not having all that much ball possession.
Offensive efforts finally paid off for Switzerland as Xherdan Shaquiri would beat the clock.
Shaquiri scored in a deadly counter at the 90th minute, completing the comeback for Switzerland.
Group E will clash for a final time this Wednesday. Brazil will face Switzerland and Serbia will do the same with the now eliminated Costa Rica.