Group E of the 2018 FIFA World Cup took place from 17 to 27 June 2018. The group consisted of Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, and Serbia. The top two teams, Brazil and Switzerland, advanced to the round of 16.
Brazil, Serbia, and Switzerland played in the same group at the following FIFA World Cup.
Teams Draw position Team Pot Confederation Method ofqualification Date ofqualification Finalsappearance Lastappearance Previous bestperformance FIFA Rankings October 2017 June 2018 E1 1 CONMEBOL CONMEBOL Round Robin winners 28 March 2017 21st 2014 (fourth place) Winners (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002) 2 2 E2 2 UEFA UEFA second round winners 12 November 2017 11th 2014 (round of 16) Quarter-finals (1934, 1938, 1954) 11 6 E3 3 CONCACAF CONCACAF fifth round runners-up 7 October 2017 5th 2014 (quarter-finals) Quarter-finals (2014) 22 23 E4 4 UEFA UEFA Group D winners 9 October 2017 12th 2010 (group stage) Fourth place (1930, 1962) 38 34
Notes
Standings
In the round of 16: The winners of Group E, Brazil, advanced to play the runners-up of Group F, Mexico. The runners-up of Group E, Switzerland, advanced to play the winners of Group F, Sweden.
Matches All times listed are local time.
Costa Rica vs Serbia The two teams had never met before.
Both defences were tested in the opening moments - Aleksandar Mitrović seeing an effort hooked off the line before Giancarlo González headed straight at Vladimir Stojković at the other end. The Serbian team was almost punished for their lack of penetration when Francisco Calvo dragged a strike wide as Costa Rica enjoyed a short spell of possession just before the break. Aleksandar Kolarov’s left-footed free kick from the right flew into the top right corner. Serbia's Nemanja Matić, meanwhile, was involved in a confrontation with a member of the Costa Rica coaching staff in injury time as he tried to retrieve the ball after it went out of play.
Serbia have won their opening game at a World Cup tournament for the first time since 1998, when they did so as Yugoslavia against Iran (1–0). Costa Rica suffered their first defeat at the World Cup since 2006 (1–2 v Poland), ending a run of five games unbeaten in the competition (W2 D3). Kolarov's strike was the first direct free-kick scored by a Serbia/Yugoslavia player at a World Cup tournament since 1998, when Siniša Mihajlović netted against Iran. Kolarov's goal for Serbia was the third direct free-kick scored at this year's World Cup (after Russia's Aleksandr Golovin and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo), which is already as many as there were in the entire 2014 tournament in Brazil.
GK 1 Keylor NavasSW 3 Giancarlo GonzálezCB 2 Jhonny AcostaCB 6 Óscar DuarteRWB16Cristian GamboaLWB15Francisco Calvo CM 20David Guzmán CM 5 Celso BorgesRW 11Johan Venegas LW 10Bryan Ruiz (c)CF 21Marco Ureña Substitutions:MF 7 Christian Bolaños FW 12Joel Campbell MF 9 Daniel Colindres Manager:Óscar Ramírez GK 1 Vladimir StojkovićRB 6 Branislav Ivanović CB 15Nikola MilenkovićCB 3 Duško TošićLB 11Aleksandar Kolarov (c)CM 21Nemanja MatićCM 4 Luka MilivojevićRW 10Dušan Tadić AM 20Sergej Milinković-SavićLW 22Adem Ljajić CF 9 Aleksandar Mitrović Substitutions:MF 17Filip Kostić DF 2 Antonio Rukavina FW 8 Aleksandar Prijović Manager:Mladen Krstajić
Man of the Match: Aleksandar Kolarov (Serbia)
Assistant referees: Djibril Camara (Senegal) El Hadji Samba (Senegal) Fourth official: Bamlak Tessema Weyesa (Ethiopia) Reserve assistant referee: Tikhon Kalugin (Russia) Video assistant referee: Clément Turpin (France) Assistant video assistant referees: Paweł Gil (Poland) Cyril Gringore (France) Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)
Brazil vs Switzerland The two teams had met in eight matches, including one game at the 1950 FIFA World Cup group stage, a 2–2 draw.
Paulinho's close-range effort forced Yann Sommer into a save. The first goal was scored shortly after when Philippe Coutinho scored from outside the penalty area with a right foot shot. Brazil also came close before the break as Thiago Silva headed inches over the crossbar. Five minutes into the second half, Steven Zuber equalised with a controversial header after a corner from the right decided by VAR review when he appeared to push Miranda in the back. More controversy was caused in the 73rd minute, after Gabriel Jesus was denied a penalty after being hacked down by Manuel Akanji in the penalty area. Brazil came close several times during the closing minutes, but Neymar, Roberto Firmino, and Miranda were unable to garner goals.
Brazil have failed to win any of their last three World Cup matches (D1 L2), their worst winless run since June 1978, when they went four games without a win. Valon Behrami is the first Switzerland player in history to appear at four World Cups. Brazil failed to win their opening match at the World Cup for the first time since 1978, when they drew 1–1 with Sweden.
GK 1 AlissonRB 14DaniloCB 2 Thiago SilvaCB 3 MirandaLB 12Marcelo (c)CM 5 Casemiro CM 15Paulinho RW 19WillianAM 11Philippe CoutinhoLW 10NeymarCF 9 Gabriel Jesus Substitutions:MF 17Fernandinho MF 8 Renato Augusto FW 20Roberto Firmino Manager:Tite GK 1 Yann SommerRB 2 Stephan Lichtsteiner (c) CB 22Fabian Schär CB 5 Manuel AkanjiLB 13Ricardo RodriguezCM 11Valon Behrami CM 10Granit XhakaRW 23Xherdan ShaqiriAM 15Blerim DžemailiLW 14Steven ZuberCF 9 Haris Seferovic Substitutions:MF 17Denis Zakaria FW 7 Breel Embolo DF 6 Michael Lang Manager:Vladimir Petković
Man of the Match: Philippe Coutinho (Brazil)
Assistant referees: Marvin Torrentera (Mexico) Miguel Hernández (Mexico) Fourth official: John Pitti (Panama) Reserve assistant referee: Gabriel Victoria (Panama) Video assistant referee: Paolo Valeri (Italy) Assistant video assistant referees: Mauro Vigliano (Argentina) Elenito Di Liberatore (Italy) Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)
Brazil vs Costa Rica The two teams had met in ten matches, including two games at the FIFA World Cup's group stages, in 1990 and 2002, with both ending in a victory for Brazil's (1–0 and 5–2, respectively).
Celso Borges shot an effort wide of the target from a Cristian Gamboa cutback after 13 minutes. Gabriel Jesus shot into the back of the net from an offside position in the 25th minute. Marcelo shot a low drive five minutes from the break, which Keylor Navas stopped. After the break, Jesus headed against the crossbar before Navas diverted Philippe Coutinho's follow-up wide. Neymar curled around the right-hand post from 18 yards in the 72nd minute, before the officials arrived at the correct decision via VAR to deny him a penalty. Coutinho gave Brazil the lead in the 91st minute, when he burst into the box to get on the end of a Roberto Firmino nod down and a touch from Jesus before poking the ball low to the net. Neymar then tapped home Douglas Costa's chipped cross from the right from close range deeper into the stoppage time.
Neymar's strike seven minutes into stoppage time was the latest ever at a World Cup in regular time. This was Brazil's first World Cup victory thanks to a goal scored in the 90th minute. Costa Rica were knocked out of the tournament after this game for the first time since 2006, with a game to play. In addition, with Germany having won the all-time record of most World Cup goals by any team with 224 goals after their win against Argentina in the final of the previous World Cup, Neymar's goal successfully tied up the record with Germany.
GK 1 AlissonRB 22FagnerCB 2 Thiago Silva (c)CB 3 MirandaLB 12MarceloCM 5 CasemiroCM 15Paulinho RW 19Willian AM 11Philippe Coutinho LW 10Neymar CF 9 Gabriel Jesus Substitutions:FW 7 Douglas Costa FW 20Roberto Firmino MF 17Fernandinho Manager:Tite GK 1 Keylor NavasSW 2 Jhonny Acosta CB 3 Giancarlo GonzálezCB 6 Óscar DuarteRWB16Cristian Gamboa LWB8 Bryan OviedoCM 20David Guzmán CM 5 Celso BorgesRW 11Johan VenegasLW 10Bryan Ruiz (c)CF 21Marco Ureña Substitutions:MF 7 Christian Bolaños DF 15Francisco Calvo MF 17Yeltsin Tejeda Manager:Óscar Ramírez
Man of the Match: Philippe Coutinho (Brazil)
Assistant referees: Sander van Roekel (Netherlands) Erwin Zeinstra (Netherlands) Fourth official: Damir Skomina (Slovenia) Reserve assistant referee: Jure Praprotnik (Slovenia) Video assistant referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands) Assistant video assistant referees: Artur Soares Dias (Portugal) Joe Fletcher (Canada) Mark Geiger (United States)
Serbia vs Switzerland
The two teams had never met. Playing as Yugoslavia, the two teams met 13 times, including one game at the 1950 FIFA World Cup group stage, a 3–0 victory for Yugoslavia.
Dušan Tadić checked back onto his left foot to send in a cross from the right that Aleksandar Mitrović met with a header into the left side of the net. Blerim Džemaili shot wide from inside the penalty area. Serbia pressed and Sergej Milinković-Savić shot narrowly wide with a rising 20-yard drive. With almost half an hour played Steven Zuber passed the ball to Džemaili who drew a one-handed save from Vladimir Stojković down to the goalkeeper's right. After 52 minutes, Xherdan Shaqiri's shot rebounded back to Granit Xhaka and the midfielder curled a right-footed shot into the far corner of the net from 25 yards. Shaqiri hit the frame of the goal with a bending effort from the right. Switzerland substitute Mario Gavranović was flagged offside as he hit the side-netting. And, in the final minute of normal time, Gavranović played a throughball to Shaqiri, who outpaced Duško Tošić and ran from near the half-way line into the box before nutmegging Stojković with a low finish from the left.
Stephan Lichtsteiner made his ninth World Cup appearance for Switzerland in this game, breaking the national record held by Charles Antenen since 1962.
GK 1 Vladimir StojkovićRB 6 Branislav IvanovićCB 15Nikola MilenkovićCB 3 Duško TošićLB 11Aleksandar Kolarov (c)CM 21Nemanja Matić CM 4 Luka Milivojević RW 10Dušan TadićAM 20Sergej Milinković-Savić LW 17Filip Kostić CF 9 Aleksandar Mitrović Substitutions:MF 22Adem Ljajić FW 18Nemanja Radonjić Manager:Mladen Krstajić GK 1 Yann SommerRB 2 Stephan Lichtsteiner (c)CB 22Fabian SchärCB 5 Manuel AkanjiLB 13Ricardo RodriguezCM 11Valon BehramiCM 10Granit XhakaRW 23Xherdan Shaqiri AM 15Blerim Džemaili LW 14Steven Zuber CF 9 Haris Seferovic Substitutions:FW 18Mario Gavranović FW 7 Breel Embolo FW 19Josip Drmić Manager:Vladimir Petković
Man of the Match: Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland)
Assistant referees: Mark Borsch (Germany) Stefan Lupp (Germany) Fourth official: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain) Reserve assistant referee: Yaser Tulefat (Bahrain) Video assistant referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany) Assistant video assistant referees: Bastian Dankert (Germany) Carlos Astroza (Chile) Clément Turpin (France)
Serbia vs Brazil The two teams had met once, a 2014 friendly won by Brazil 1–0. Playing as Yugoslavia, the two teams met 18 times, including four times at FIFA World Cup's group stages in 1930, 1950, 1954 and 1974, with one victory each and two draws.
Marcelo was replaced with Filipe Luís in the 10th minute, due to a back spasm. Gabriel Jesus created a chance for Neymar, whose cross-goal strike was pushed away by Vladimir Stojković. Jesus cut inside of Miloš Veljković and saw his shot blocked behind by Nikola Milenković. In the 36th minute, Paulinho raced between two defenders and poked Philippe Coutinho's delivery beyond the onrushing Stojković. Neymar had a low drive kept out by Stojković at the near post five minutes into the second period. Aleksandar Mitrović headed a cross from Antonio Rukavina straight at the feet of the keeper in the 65th minute. Thiago Silva headed home at the near post from Neymar's left-wing corner in the 68th minute.