The top seed of Group E is Brazil, who were a bit lucky with the draw. From Pot 2 came Switzerland, Costa Rica is the representative of Central and North America, being drawn out of Pot 3 and Group E was completed by a second European squad of the group, coming from Pot 4: Serbia.

With Brazil facing Switzerland in the group’s opener, the match between Costa Rica and Serbia could be fundamental to square off who’ll have the better chance of going through. Everything points out to Brazil qualifying easily in 1st place, but all the other three teams seem able to put up a fight for 2nd place, with Costa Rica perhaps a step behind. Fantasy-wise Serbia can be a good bet for the first two gameweeks.

Brazil is currently in 2nd place in the FIFA ranking and is the clear-cut favourite to win the group and a record of “3 out of 3” for the Brazilians would not be surprising at all. Switzerland came from Pot 2 and holds a surprising 6th place in the FIFA ranks, but the Swiss do not appear to have a significant quality edge over for Serbia, so their fight for qualification won’t be easy. Serbia has the worst ranking of the group, ranked 35th, while Costa Rica is ten places up the ladder, 25th. And let’s not forget that, in the last World Cup, Costa Rica came out on top of their group, despite facing Uruguay, Italy and England! So, let’s not completely exclude the Ticos from the battle for 2nd spot.

Brazil

The “Escrete” qualified for the WC2018 winning the CONMEBOL qualifying with 41 points, 10 more than the 2nd placed Uruguay. Gabriel Jesus was their top goal-scorer with 7 goals, and Neymar was king of assists, with 8 goals created. This calendar year, Brazil has held three friendly matches, all against fellow World Cup participants, picking up wins against Russia, Germany and Croatia.

Brazil’s biggest star is Neymar Jr. (11.5M) but the PSG play-maker has lost the end of the season due to an injury. He has already played in Brazil’s last friendly, netting one in the process. But Neymar isn’t the only star in this Brazilian squad. Up front, Gabriel Jesus (8.5M) and Roberto Firmino (8.5M) fight for the #9 sport, with Jesus seeming to have an advantage. Behind, in supporting roles, Phil Coutinho (10.0M) and Willian (8.5M) are the ones who offer the most offensive potential. Allison Becker (6.5M) is nowadays a top-ranked goalkeeper, with the veteran presence of Thiago Silva (6.5M) and offensive wing-backs Danilo (6.0M) and Marcelo (7.0M) playing ahead of him. With this group, it is mandatory to have at least 2 players from Brazil in your team.

Only a major collapse will cause Brazil to not reach the knockout rounds, in what would be a shocker for the ages. The South Americans have one of the most serious candidacies for the title and are riding on a very talented generation to get there.