Costa Rica vs Serbia Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Costa Rica made it to the World Cup for the first time in 12 years back in 2014, and after being drawn alongside the likes of Italy, England, and Uruguay, not many expected them to last very long. They produced an excellent display though as they beat Uruguay and Italy and drew with England to top the group, following that by knocking out Greece to go as far as the quarter finals.

They managed to qualify again this time around, marking the first time in their history that they have made it to consecutive World Cups. This time nobody will be underestimating them, and on the face of it at least this looks like a much more promising group for them.

Of course, Brazil are the overwhelming favourites to top the group, but results against Switzerland and Serbia would likely take them through. The first of these challenges comes on Sunday when they face Serbia, and they will want to overcome their recent poor form here.

Their final World Cup warm up friendly saw them thrashed at the hands of Belgium, following on from an uninspiring 2-0 defeat to England. They have lost six of their last eight matches now, including very poor defeats to Panama, Hungary, and Tunisia.

Serbia have had a disastrous few years in footballing terms, but their talented squad have come out the other side and qualified for their first international tournament since 2010 here. They, like both Costa Rica and Switzerland, will fancy their chances at making it through the first hurdle.

Indeed, the Serbia squad is full of familiar names from the top leagues in Europe. Defenders such as Branislav Ivanovic, Aleksandar Kolarov, and Milos Veljkovic are in their ranks, along with Luke Milivojevic, Dusan Tadic, Marko Grujic, Nemanja Matic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Adem Llajic, and Aleksandar Mitrovic further up the pitch.

A few of these starred in Serbia’s recent 5-1 thrashing of Bolivia too, with Mitrovic netting a hat trick. This result made it six wins, one draw, and three defeats in their last ten outings, so they are in better form than their opponents.

Costa Rica built their 2014 World Cup campaign on a solid back line, but recently that stability has deserted them. They have conceded in eight of their last ten matches now, but have scored themselves in six of them. Meanwhile, Serbia have scored in nine of their last ten games, but have conceded in five of them. This makes a Both Teams to Score bet look good value for money, so we’re backing that along with a 1-1 correct score predictions.

Mitrovic is the man we’re looking at for our anytime goalscorer predictions too. The Newcastle striker has scored nine goals in Serbia’s last 12 matches, and five of those have come in the last three outings. He looks a great choice to find the net.

Costa Rica Predicted Lineup: Navas, Acosta, Gonzalez, Duarte, Gamboa, Oviedo, Borges, Tejeda, Campbell, Ruiz, Urena

Serbia Predicted Lineup: Stojkovic, Ivanovic, Tosic, Milenkovic, Kolarov, Milinkovic-Savic, Matic, Zivkovic, Tadic, Ljajic, Mitrovic