Group E brings with it the biggest team in the tournament, Brazil are usually the neutral's favorites to win the whole thing, but, there also 3 other evenly matched teams.
And for the first time in my life as a data analyst, I've come across a sure event. My model thinks that it is not possible for Brazil to be knocked out of this group. Switzerland are also given an excellent chance to go through but Costa Rica and Serbia are not bad sides at all. Serbia are an ageing side and Costa Rica have the lowest ELO rating but they are both capable of a good surprise.
The match predictions should be interesting,
Brazil and Switzerland are heavy favorites in their games. I would question that in the Swiss case. In prior tournaments, they have come across as rather negative and I don't think that will change. They have some talented players like Breel Embolo and Xheridan Shaqiri who will probably make the difference.
Just as the Swiss attack will probably see them through, the Costa Rican attack is their biggest weakness. They have an extremely experienced defense, but, there is no consistent goalscorer there - Joel Campbell will get one on his day and Bryan Ruiz can hit a good set piece but, I don't see that helping this time around.
Serbia on the other hand are more balanced as a team and have an experienced back-line and a good goalscorer in Aleksander Mitrovic. Their weakness is their patchy form, they rarely beat teams better than them and I would say all the other teams in this group might be better than them. Serbia have a few emerging talents like Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Zivkovic but it remains to be seen if they will both start.
I think this as straightforward a group as it will get in this tournament.
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