Broadcast info
Match details, result and original broadcast info
Brazil 2 - 0 Costa Rica
June 22, 2018 8:00amSaint-Petersburg Stadium (Sankt-Peterburg (St. Petersburg))This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Match Preview
Brazil will approach their second group game against Costa Rica knowing that anything short of a win will be catastrophic to their hopes of securing a top spot finish. The Seleccao, despite frequently looking treacherous in attack, were held to a 1-1 draw in their first Group E game against Switzerland on Sunday.
Their unbeaten run was extended to 12-matches as a result but Tite's men will only hope they can build on that to secure all three points in Friday's game against Costa Rica. At the moment, Serbia leads the group with three points after clinching a 1-0 win over the Central Americans.
In retrospect, star of the Seleccao Neymar Jr. failed to live up to the hype surrounding his return from injury by putting in a rather uncharacteristic display against the Swiss. In fairness, it was not due to the lack of trying on his part as aside his hairstyle which caught a lot of attention during the proceeding, he was mostly pictured down on the field clutching his leg in agony.
The 26-year-old forward barely had a breathing space in the very physical encounter and was fouled 10 times – the most for a player in a World Cup match since 1998. The Paris Saint-Germain talisman missed Brazil's first training after the clash but joined the squad on Tuesday to prepare for the upcoming clash with Costa Rica.
For the Central Americans, taking a leaf out of the book of the Swiss might prove to be very effective for them in dealing with Neymar. Should they take their foot off the gas, they might find themselves ready to pack and leave the shores of Russia after two games.
Ramirez's men saw most of the ball in the opening game against Serbia but all their hard work was undone by Kolarov's freekick after they failed to be effective in front of goal. On Friday, they will hope that the trickery and pace of Joel Campbell will be enough to end their three-game winless run across all competitions.
The upcoming clash will be the 11th match between Brazil and Costa Rica. The former has dominated by registering nine victories and has only lost on just one occasion which dates as far back as 1960.
