Brazil, the five-time world champion, will aim to get their FIFA World Cup 2018 campaign back on track in their Group E match against the Central American team Costa Rica. Brazil have topped their group in World Cups since 1982 and are eager to get back to winning ways after drawing 1-1 with Switzerland in their Group E opener. Costa Rica will also look to bounce back from their narrow 0-1 defeat to Serbia.
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Formations for #BRACRC…
Score predictions on this one? pic.twitter.com/VLmhqbXWMK
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Lineups:
Brazil XI: Alisson, Marcelo, Miranda, Thiago Silva, Fagner, Philippe Coutinho, Casemiro, Paulinho, Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, Wilian
Costa Rica XI: Navas, Acosta, Gonzalez, Duarte, Oviedo, Guzman, Borges, Gamboa, Venegas, Urena, Ruiz
Brazil need to be wary of the speedy Costa Ricans. Argentina’s 3-0 loss to Croatia in Group D and Germany going down 0-1 to Mexico in Group F have shown that less fancied teams are fully geared up to take on their mighty rivals.
Brazil have faced Costa Rica 11 times and won nine of them. Brazil’s only loss to Costa Rica was way back on March 10, 1960, in the now-defunct Pan American Championship. The two teams have faced off twice in World Cups before with Brazil winning both the encounters. In the 1990 edition Brazil had won 1-0 while the match in 2002 saw Costa Rica losing 2-5.
Costa Rica are aiming to emulate their show in the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil where they progressed to the knockout stages from a group which also had Italy, Uruguay and England.
Full squad:
Brazil: Goalkeepers – Alisson, Ederson, Cassio. Defenders – Danilo, Fagner, Pedro Geromel, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Miranda, Marcelo, Filipe Luis. Midfielders – Casemiro, Fernandinho, Renato Augusto, Fred, Coutinho, Paulinho, Willian. Forwards – Douglas Costa, Roberto Firmino, Gabriel Jesus, Neymar, Taison
Costa Rica: Goalkeepers – Keylor Navas, Patrick Pemberton, Leonel Moreira. Defenders – Giancarlo Gonzalez, Johnny Acosta, Christian Gamboa, Bryan Oviedo, Oscar Duarte, Francisco Calvo, Kendall Waston, Ronald, Matarrita, Ian Smith. Midfielders – Celso Borges, Christian Bolaños, Randall Azofeifa, Yeltsin Tejeda, David Guzman, Rodney Wallace, Daniel Colindres. Forwards – Bryan Ruiz, Joel Campbell, Marco Ureña, Johan Venegas
Source: Zee News