Overview
Costa Rica and Serbia are ready for lift-off at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.Costa Rica, surprised the World after advancing all the way to the quarter-finals after getting out of a tough group with England, Italy and Uruguay in the 2014 Brazil World Cup.
Should Costa Rica avoid defeat in their opening match against Serbia, that will make it six consecutive matches without defeat at the FIFA World Cup for Oscar Ramirez’s men. The Ticos’ undefeated passage through Brazil 2014 included two wins against former champions.
The team has lost majority of its recent international friendlies,but remains confident from their qualifying campaign, including a 4-0 rout over USA on home soil.
Serbia are back at the world finals for the first time since 2010, where they failed to advance past the group stage despite defeating Germany 1-0 in their second match. Serbia finished top of Group D in European qualifying ahead of the likes of Republic of Ireland, Wales and Austria.
Head-to-head
This will be the first ever encounter between Costa Rica and Serbia.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica have qualified for their fifth World Cup – they have reached the knockout stages in two of their four previous appearances (1990 and 2014).
Minus penalty shootouts, Costa Rica were one of only three sides to remain unbeaten in the 2014 World Cup (alongside Germany and Netherlands).
Costa Rica have kept three clean sheets in their last four World Cup games, that’s more than in their previous 11 games in the competition (2).
Costa Rica have also won their opening game at the World Cup in three of their previous four appearances, the only exception coming against hosts Germany in 2006 (2-4).
This will be Oscar Ramírez’s first World Cup as a manager. He played every single minute of Costa Rica’s 1990 World Cup campaign, in what was their first ever appearance in the competition.
Serbia
Serbia have lost their opening game by a 1-0 scoreline each time in their last two World Cup appearances.
Having inherited Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro’s records, this is Serbia’s 12th World Cup participation, although it will be only their second tournament as an independent nation following 2010.
Serbia have failed to reach the knockout stages in their last two World Cup appearances (2006, 2010). In fact, over their last two participations, Serbia have lost five of their six group games (W1), their only win coming against Germany in 2010 (1-0).
Their best performance in the competition dates back to 1930 and 1962 when Yugoslavia finished fourth. Since then, whether as Yugoslavia or Serbia, they have never gone further than the quarter-finals.
Only Joshua Kimmich (9) provided more assists than Serbia’s Dusan Tadic (7) in the European qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.
Slavoljub Muslin was Serbia’s manager in the entire World Cup 2018 qualifying phase, leading them to top spot in their group, before he left in October 2017 and was replaced by caretaker manager Mladen Krstajic.
Predictions
Serbia will rely heavily on Aleksandar Mitrovic in their goals hunt. However, his goal scoring prowess cannot be measured by his performance in the championship and thus he will need to prove himself in the global platform. This will probably be a low-scoring game. Costa Rica will edge Serbia narrowly, 1-0.
Costa Rica vs Serbia (Comparison and history)
Possible line-ups
Costa Rica: Keylor Navas; Giancarlo Gonzalez, Oscar Duarte, Johnny Acosta, Cristian Gamboa, Bryan Oviedo; David Guzman, Celso Borges, Bryan Ruiz, Christian Bolanos; Marco Urena
Serbia:Vladimir Stojkovic; Branislav Ivanovic, Nikola Milenkovic, Dusko Tosic, Aleksandar Kolarov; Nemanja Matic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Dusan Tadic, Adem Ljajic, Filip Kostic; Aleksandar Mitrovic
Full squads
Costa Rica
Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas (Real Madrid), Patrick Pemberton (Liga Deportiva Alajuelense), Leonel Moreira (C.S. Herediano)
Defenders: Cristian Gamboa (Celtic), Ian Smith (Santos de Guapiles FC), Ronald Matarrita (New York City), Bryan Oviedo (Sunderland), Oscar Duarte (Espanyol), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Bologna), Francisco Calvo (Minnesota United), Kendall Waston (Vancouver Whitecaps), Johnny Acosta (Rionegro Aguilas)
Midfielders: David Guzman (Portland Timbers), Yeltsin Tejeda (FC Lausanne-Sport), Celso Borges (Deportivo de La Coruna), Randall Azofeifa (CS Herediano), Rodney Wallace (New York City), Bryan Ruiz (Sporting), Daniel Colindres (Deportivo Saprissa), Christian Bolanos (Deportivo Saprissa)
Forwards: Johan Venegas (Deportivo Saprissa), Joel Campbell (Real Betis), Marco Urena (Los Angeles FC)
Serbia
Goalkeepers: Vladimir Stojkovic (Partizan Belgrade), Predrag Rajkovic (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Marko Dmitrovic (Eibar).
Defenders: Aleksandar Kolarov (AS Roma), Branislav Ivanovic (Zenit St. Petersburg), Dusko Tosic (Guangzhou R&F), Antonio Rukavina (Villarreal), Milos Veljkovic (Werder Bremen), Milan Rodic (Red Star Belgrade), Uros Spajic (Krasnodar), Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina).
Midfielders: Nemanja Matic (Manchester United), Luka Milivojevic (Crystal Palace), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio), Marko Grujic (Liverpool), Adem Ljajic (Torino), Dusan Tadic (Southampton), Filip Kostic (Hamburg SV), Andrija Zivkovic (Benfica), Nemanja Radonjic (Red Star Belgrade).
Strikers: Aleksandar Mitrovic (Newcastle United), Aleksandar Prijovic (PAOK Salonika), Luka Jovic (Benfica).