All eyes will be on Brazil in this group, but also the battle for second place can become very interesting.
Brazil: One of the big favorites this year. Brazil was the first team to qualify for the World Cup. In the difficult South American qualifiers, that is worth mentioning, especially after their poor start (9 points from the first 6 games). It's symbolic for the revival of the Brazilian team since coach Tite took over in 2016. With him in charge, they won 9 qualification matches in a row and have so far only lost one friendly game to Argentina. Brazil will enter the tournament with only one goal: make up for their failure at the previous World Cup they hosted. Many Brazilian football fans will still have nightmares of the humiliating 7-1 defeat against Germany. Nothing less than bringing the World Cup home will erase that painful memory. The selection looks way better now that the one of 2014. Bringing in the likes of Coutinho, Douglas Costa, Gabriel Jezus and Roberto Firmino will be a huge improvement. Goalkeepers are traditionally their weakness, but they found the solution for that as well with not just one but two world class goalies: Allyson Becker of AS Roma- normally the first choice- and Ederson Moraes, who impressed everyone in his debut season at Manchester City. With all the individual talent, they will still need a fit Neymar if they want to go all the way. His performance and goal in the friendly against Croatia (2-0 victory) looked promising. His injury might even become an advantage at the World Cup, since he is much more fresh and rested than the other star players. Brazil looks to have all the recipes to fulfill the high expectations of their demanding fans. They are the favorite to win for most experts and bookmakers, and I will, unoriginally, join them.
Prediction: Winner
Switzerland: Since qualifying for the World Cup in 2006, the Swiss national team has become a regular contender on major tournaments. Switzerland was probably the biggest bad luck in European qualifications: winning 9 games out of 10, but still condemned to the play-offs because they lost the last game to Portugal. They defeated Northern Ireland in that play-off, but with nothing to spare: a 1-0 away win was followed by a 0-0 draw at home. An advantage for the Swiss is that they can always play on tournaments without too much pressure and expectations: getting through the group stage like they did at the last World Cup and European Championships will already be a success. A possible tie with neighbor Germany might give them that extra motivation to do so. The Swiss team is full of experience : players like Lichtsteiner, Sommer, Xhaka and their main man Shaqiri have been playing in the biggest leagues for multiple seasons and have experience at big tournaments. Zakaria and Embolo, both playing in Germany, are among the younger talents. They do seem to lack a real goalgetter up front though. Their strength lies more in conceding less goals than in outscoring the opponent. Reaching the round of 16 is a fair ambition for Switzerland, but in a group with- besides Brazil- Costa Rica and Serbia, this might not be an easy task.
Prediction: Round of 16
Serbia: For the first time present since the 2010 World Cup. It's only the second tournament for the country Serbia as it exists today (on the World Cup 2006 they were still a nation with Montenegro), while in the past Yugoslavia was a regular contender at World Cups and European Championships. In a very close and exciting qualification group, they managed to just overcome Ireland and EURO 2016 semi-finalists Wales. Like many teams on this World Cup, Serbia strives to find a perfect mix between experience and youthful talent. The first category is embodied in the defense by Ivanovic- former Chelsea player, now Zenit- and Kolarov- former Manchester City player and now AS Roma. Nemanja Matic of Manchester United has to lead the midfield, Dusan Tadic of Southampton has to provide that extra creativity. Young talent is presented by the likes of Jovic (Frankfurt), Mitrovic (Newcastle and former Anderlecht player) and Grujic (Liverpool), but the biggest talent of all is probably Sergej Milinkovic-Savic of Lazio (and one season at Racing Genk in Belgium). Only 23 years old but Lazio is dead serious about not wanting to sell him for less than 100 million. All the big teams will look at his performances and a big transfer this summer seems certain. Serbia is definitely a team to take into account in this group, but their lack of experience at international tournaments might be a downside.
Prediction: Group Stage
Costa Rica: Another team that I will have more knowledge about after seeing them play against Belgium on tomorrw night, but I already making my preview of them to stay on schedule (and I watched their friendly against England). Costa Rica surprised the whole world at the last World Cup. Drawn in a group with Uruguay, Italy and England, no one gave them any chance in advance, given the fact they had never progressed to the round of 16 before. But after 2 wins and a draw, followed by a victory after penalties against Greece, they made it to the quarter finals, where they lost against the Netherlands only on penalties. Costa Rica had a quite comfortable qualification campaign, ending after second after Mexico in the CONMEBOL, the North and Central America association. They played a huge role in the absence of United States when they lost against Panama on the last matchday. USA lost their game themselves on that day, so no real accusation here, don't get me wrong. Nevertheless, not many will expect Costa Rica to repeat their performances of 2014 again. Besides goalkeeper Navas of Real Madrid, they aren't big stars in the team. Their star player of 2014 Joel Campell made a move to Arsenal after that tournament, but he never managed to break through there and plays for Real Betis in Spain now. Costa Rica will be dependable on their collective strength again. If they can find their form of 2014, they have decent chances to make it to the round of 16, but I give slight preference to Switzerland going through with Brazil in this group.
Prediction: Group Stage