Costa Rica v Serbia Betting Preview – World Cup 2018 17th June – 1.00 p.m
(Full time: 0:1 – goals: Kolarov 56′)
Costa Rica were one of the surprise packages in the round of 16 four years ago at the World Cup, but they may find qualification a much tougher thing to achieve this go around. This is in Brazil’s group so there is going to be three-way battle between Costa Rica, Serbia and Switzerland for the other qualification spot. Serbia looks the more dangerous of these two and if they want to get themselves into an early advantage in the group over Switzerland, three-points are going to be a huge boost.
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Costa Rica News and Form
Four years ago Costa Rica were one of the surprise packages to make it through to the round of 16 as they qualified from England’s group, with the Three Lions finishing bottom. In their World Cup 2018 qualification campaign, Costa Rica finished second in the CONCACAF zone to Mexico and they got a big result against the USA along the way. On paper, they do not appear to be much of a realistic threat in this game and they are not carrying form with them either. The level of quality is not high within the Costa Rica squad (and is one of the oldest squads at the tournament) with them being made up mostly from MLS and home-based players. Their star player is keeper Keylor Navas who may have a busy afternoon trying to keep his nation in this match. Ultimately it does look as if Costa Rica’s chances of winning this is slim.
Costa Rica have suffered four defeats in their last six games and they are no particular threat pushing forward and may find the Serbia defence too hard to break down. Four years ago the five matches that Costa Rica played at the World Cup all ended under 2.5 goals and this is probably going to go the same way. Under 2.5 goals at William Hill is at 1/2 odds* (betting odds taken on June 13, 2018 at 11:35 PM). Going back to the form of Costa Rica there has been six losses in their last eight games and they have failed to hit the back of the net in five of those eight fixtures. So they are justifiably the underdogs for this game and both teams not to score is at 4/6 odds* (betting odds taken on June 13, 2018 at 11:35 PM) which has good appeal in our Costa Rica v Serbia predictions.
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Not many would have pegged Serbia as being their group winners in their World Cup qualification campaign, as they were lumped together in a competitive group which also contained Ireland, Wales and Austria. But Serbia did win it and the balance through their squad is pretty good because it has a nice mix of experience and youth. It will be important for them to deliver the three points in this game if they want to challenge Switzerland for a qualification place from Group E. Brazil are red hot favourites to win this group so it may boil down to a battle between the two Europeans for the other spot. In the William Hill correct score market a Serbia 1-0 option is at 4/1 odds* (betting odds taken on June 13, 2018 at 11:35 PM) and really piques your interest in Costa Rica v Serbia predictions. This has to end up being a low scoring fixture as Serbia are likely to get the win as they have collected five victories in their last nine games (D1 L3). Four of the five wins in that sequence were all with a clean sheet. With a lack of goal production from Costa Rica it is well worth considering Serbia to claim victory with a clean sheet.
Costa Rica v Serbia Head to Head
Costa Rica and Serbia have never met before
Costa Rica v Serbia Betting Odds*
Serbia 10/11
Draw 23/10
Costa Rica 4/1
* (Betting Odds were taken from bet365 on June 13th, 2018 at 4:27 p.m.)
Costa Rica v Serbia Predictions
Serbia looks as if they could well push Switzerland hard for a qualification spot from this. They can gain an early advantage over the Swiss by getting a win against Costa Rica, and it looks unlikely this time around that the Central Americans are going to pose much of a threat to anyone in this group. Our prediction for the game is Serbia to win by a one-goal margin.
