Brazil topped Group E with victory

Serbia 0-2 Brazil, Switzerland 2-2 Costa Rica: Favourites win Group E

08:06 · THU June 28, 2018

Brazil and Switzerland progressed to the round of 16 after Serbia failed to secure victory over Tite's men in the final group game.

Serbia 0-2 Brazil

Brazil eased into the last 16 of the World Cup with a 2-0 win over a combative but limited Serbia in their Group E decider at Moscow's Spartak Stadium.

It was from from fluent at times but goals from Paulinho and Thiago Silva were a fair return on what was their best performance at Russia 2018 so far.

And with news of Germany's shock exit still settling in as the match started, Brazil's fans can look forward with growing confidence.

Having gone with the same line-up that huffed and puffed against Costa Rica, Brazil coach Tite was forced into a change within 10 minutes, when Marcelo limped off.

The Real Madrid man appeared to hurt himself when he lunged into a challenge on the Ajax-bound Dusan Tadic and it was later revealed on the team's Twitter feed that he had twinged his back. He looked in considerable discomfort as he made his way to the bench.

He was replaced, eventually, by Atletico Madrid's Felipe Luis, much to the relief of Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus, who had been filling in at left-back.

Opta facts

Brazil have qualified from the Round 1 Group Stage of the World Cup for the 13th consecutive tournament, a run stretching back to 1970.
Serbia have been eliminated at the group stage of the World Cup in all three of their tournaments as an independent nation (2006, 2010 and 2018).
Brazil won back to back World Cup matches for the first time since 2010, when they won their opening two group matches.
Philippe Coutinho has been involved in six goals in seven matches for Brazil in 2018 (4 goals, 2 assists).
Neymar has now scored five times and assisted twice in eight World Cup appearances for Brazil.
Only Neymar and Gabriel Jesus (10 goals) have scored more goals for Brazil under current manager Tite than Paulinho (8 goals).
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored just one goal from 14 shots at the 2018 World Cup for Serbia.
Serbia have lost 78% of their matches at the World Cup (seven of nine) since their first appearance as an independent nation in 2006.
Thiago Silva’s last three goals for Brazil have all come in June – against Serbia today, against Australia in June 2017 and against Venezuela in June 2015.
Brazil have won 19 of their 24 matches under Tite (D4 L1), giving the Brazilian manager a win percentage of 79%.

Blerim Dzemaili celebrates his goal against Costa Rica

Switzerland 2-2 Costa Rica

Switzerland will meet Sweden in the last 16 of the World Cup as they secured safe passage from Group E with a dramatic late draw against Costa Rica.

While Costa Rica were already out having lost their opening two matches, they were the better side in Nizhny Novgorod and were good value for their 2-2 draw.

Blerim Dzemaili opened the scoring for Switzerland after they had been largely on the back-foot with Kendall Watson marking his introduction into the Costa Rica side by levelling with a second-half header.

Josip Drmic came off the bench to seemingly win it for the Swiss late on, only for a late Costa Rica equaliser coming courtesy of a Yann Sommer own goal as Bryan Ruiz's penalty went in off the Switzerland goalkeeper.

Opta facts

Switzerland have now progressed from the group stage in four of the last five World Cups in which they have appeared (also 1994, 2006 and 2014), only failing to do so at the 2010 tournament.
Costa Rica have failed to win any of their matches in a particular World Cup tournament for only the second time, having last done so when they lost all three games in 2006.
Switzerland have avoided defeat in each of their three group stage matches at the World Cup for the first time since 2006.
Costa Rica are winless in their last six World Cup matches (D4 L2), their worst ever such run in the competition.
Switzerland have now scored at least once in six of their last seven World Cup games, scoring 12 goals in those seven matches, as many as their previous 16 combined.
Blerim Dzemaili is the third player in the Switzerland squad at this World Cup to have scored in both the 2018 and 2014 editions of the tournament (also Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri).
Kendall Waston’s goal for Costa Rica was their first in 424 minutes of play in World Cup matches, with their previous goal scored by Bryan Ruiz in the Last 16 of the 2014 tournament against Greece.
Costa Rica became the last side to score a goal at this year’s World Cup, doing so with their 24th shot of the tournament.
Yann Sommer is just the third goalkeeper to score an own goal at the World Cup, after Honduras’ Noel Valladares against France in 2014 and Spain’s Andoni Zubizarreta against Nigeria in 1998.
Defender Stephan Lichtsteiner became the first player to reach 10 World Cup appearances for Switzerland by starting this match.