Moments away from recording their second straight draw of the World Cup, Brazil’s bid for a sixth World Cup title received a massive shot in the arm when Phil Coutinho’s shot squirmed between Keylor Navas’ legs to deflate Costa Rican hearts.
The Selecao got a second through Neymar in the 97th minute to hand Tite’s men a 2-0 win which send them top of the table. Costa Rica, courtesy of their two defeats, are out of the competition and cannot replicate their efforts from four years ago, when they got out of a group containing Italy, Uruguay and England.
Switzerland, buoyed by their 1-1 draw against Brazil in the opener, looked down and out against Serbia in their first half. Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri had other ideas, and struck second half goals to ensure that the Swiss became the first country in Russia to record a come-from-behind win.
After their 2-1 win, the Swiss go to second in the group, behind Brazil on goal difference. This is how the group looks after the second round of matches:
Going into the final round of matches, Serbia face their toughest challenge yet as they take on the might of Brazil. At the same time, Switzerland face bottom-placed Costa Rica.
The tie-break scenarios for rankings in the groups are as follows:
- Greatest number of points
- Goal difference in all group matches
- Goals scored in all group matches
Brazil top the group with a GD of +2, ahead of Switzerland, who are on a GD of +1. Serbia, currently on three points have scored as many goals as they have conceded.
For Serbia to qualify, they have to beat Brazil. Assuming they did:
Irrespective of what happens in the other match, a win for Branislav Ivanovic’s men will put them through. Should Switzerland draw or win against Costa Rica, they would join Serbia in the next round.
But a Costa Rica win would complicate matters further. In such a case, Brazil would need to have a lower goal difference than Switzerland in order to fail to progress. The third parameter, goals scored, sees Brazil ahead with 3 compared to Switzerland’s 2.
If Brazil win or draw against Serbia, then Tite, Neymar and co will go through along with Switzerland.
Serbia will be on a maximum total of 4 points. Their loss against Switzerland condemns them to a lower finish than the Swiss if they were to end up with the same number of points. Switzerland’s match against Costa Rica wouldn’t matter in this scenario.
The Selecao are almost through to the next round, despite a mediocre couple of matches. They will want to finish first. If Germany, who lost their first game against Mexico, were also to finish second in their group, the Selecao will face off against Die Nationalmannschaft in the Round of 16.
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