Brazil vs. Costa Rica
- When: Friday 22 June
- Kick-off time: 1pm
- Where: Saint Petersburg Stadium, St Petersburg
- TV channel: live on ITV
Sky Sports reports that Neymar trained on Wednesday and the Brazilian federation said the Paris Saint-Germain striker “participated normally in the team’s activity”.
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The World Cup favourites drew 1-1 in their opening group E match against Switzerland and will be looking to Neymar to inspire a first victory in Russia.
Philippe Coutinho, who scored against the Swiss, says Brazil are looking for an improved performance against Costa Rica.
He told the BBC: “All games are like a final, even more so in the World Cup. We need to take responsibility and our heads have to be in the right place. This game is important and we’re looking for three points.
“We spoke about the possibilities and the ways to qualify and points. We had a meeting about that but we take to the field aiming to win.”
Costa Rica lost their opening match, 1-0 against Serbia and are bottom of group E with no points. But captain Bryan Ruiz believes his side can take heart from Switzerland’s display against Brazil.
Ruiz said: “Switzerland pressed them in midfield and that’s what you need to do because everybody knows that Brazil are best from midfield going forward. We need to win the ball back quickly and counter attack quickly.”
Brazil vs. Costa Rica predicted starting XIs
How the teams could line up at the Saint Petersburg Stadium, according to Fifa.com:
- Brazil: Alisson; Danilo, Thiago Silva, Miranda, Marcelo; Casemiro, Paulinho; Willian, Philippe Coutinho, Neymar; Gabriel Jesus
- Costa Rica: Keylor Navas, Francisco Calvo, Oscar Duarte, Johnny Acosta, Giancarlo González, Cristian Gamboa, Celso Borges, David Guzman, Bryan Ruiz, Johan Venegas, Marco Urena
Group E results, fixtures and live TV channels
- Costa Rica 0 Serbia 1
- Brazil 1 Switzerland 1
- 22 June: Brazil vs. Costa Rica (1pm, ITV); Serbia vs. Switzerland (7pm, BBC)
- 27 June: Serbia vs. Brazil (7pm, ITV); Switzerland vs. Costa Rica (7pm, ITV4)