World Cup 2018 Group E: Fixtures, squads & full details on Brazil & Switzerland group

Goal brings you all the details of the Group E fixtures including fixtures, standings and squads for Brazil and Costa Rica

The World Cup's Group E fixtures commence with Costa Rica facing Serbia on June 17 at the Samara Arena, as well as Brazil clashing against Switzerland on the same day.

Brazil will be looking to impress from the get-go following their 7-1 humilation at the hands of defending champions Germany from the last World Cup, and Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar faces a race for fitness after missing a huge chunk of the end of the season due to injury.

Costa Rica could potentially be a strong force after emerging a surprise threat four years in Brazil, when they beat both Uruguay and Italy in the group stage and drew with Engalnd.

Goal will take a look at the rundown of the Group E fixtures ahead of the June start, as well as what to expect from each team and more.

World Cup 2018 - Group E Fixtures

Brazil are favourites to go far in the competition with their roster of all-star players, such as Neymar, Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino. A game against Switzerland will be no easy feat, but they are expected to go out with their guns blazing in every effort to redeem themselves following their humiliating display against the Germans in 2014.

Barcelona midfielder Coutinho only has eight senior caps for the national team but has already formed a formidable partnership with club teammate Fabinho, and will have the opportunity to rediscover his rapport with former Liverpool colleague Firmino. Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus will be another attacking option for Tite's side, and is expected to be named first-choice striker ahead of Firmino, despite having an outstanding season at Anfield where he broke his own scoring record at a club.

Switzerland have yet to make it past the quarter-final stage of the World Cup but also have a wealth of individual talent in their squad, such as Xherdan Shaqiri – who impressed heavily in Brazil four years ago – as well as Granit Xhaka and Benfica's Haris Seferovic.

Though Xhaka has been maligned in his time at Arsenal, he is deployed in a Number 10 role with his national side and is expected to supply the midfield with creativity and fluidity going forward.

Costa Rica could emerge as a surprise force yet again as they qualified second after Mexico. The Ticos feature Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas, the first-choice 'keeper for both club and country, who comes off the backs of a recent Champions League success.

Group E can be seen as a threatening group on all accounts when considering Serbia as well, who will be represented by the experienced and talented likes of Roma's Alexsandar Kolarov, Zenit St Petersburg's Branislav Ivanovic (who will be captaining the side) as well as Manchester United's Nemanja Matic. Serbia are, for the most part, a side skilled with their defensive options with a lot of talent in their back-line, though will need to be able to be a hazard going forward.

World Cup 2018 - Group E Table Standings

World Cup 2018 - Group E Squads

Brazil

Goalkeepers: Alisson (Roma), Ederson (Manchester City), Cassio (Corinthians).

Defenders: Danilo (Manchester City), Fagner (Corinthians), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva, Marquinhos (both Paris St-Germain), Miranda (Inter Milan) Pedro Geromel (Gremio).

Midfielders: Casemiro (Real Madrid), Fernandinho (Manchester City), Paulinho (Barcelona), Fred (Shakhtar Donetsk), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona), Willian (Chelsea), Douglas Costa (Juventus).

Forwards: Neymar Jr (Paris St-Germain), Taison (Shakhtar Donetsk), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool).

Neymar leads Brazil's 23-man final World Cup squad as Alves not included

Switzerland

Goalkeepers: Roman Buerki (Borussia Dortmund), Yvon Mvogo (Leipzig), Yann Sommer (Borussia Monchengladbach).

Defenders: Manuel Akanji (Borussia Dortmund), Johan Djourou (Antalyaspor), Nico Elvedi (Borussia Monchengladbach), Michael Lang (Basel), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Jacques-Francois Moubandje (Toulouse), Ricardo Rodriguez (Milan), Fabian Schaer (Deportivo La Coruna).

Midfielders: Valon Behrami (Udinese), Blerim Dzemaili (Bologna), Gelson Fernandes (Eintracht Frankfurt), Remo Freuler (Atalanta), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City), Granit Xhaka (Arsenal), Steven Zuber (1899 Hoffenheim), Denis Zakaria (Borussia Monchengladbach).

Forwards: Josip Drmic (Borussia Monchengladbach), Breel Embolo (Schalke), Mario Gavranovic (Dinamo Zagreb), Haris Seferovic (Benfica).

Xhaka in Switzerland's World Cup squad after injury scare

Costa Rica

Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas (Real Madrid), Patrick Pemberton (Liga Deportiva Alajuelense), Leonel Moreira (CS Herediano).

Defenders: Cristian Gamboa (Celtic), Ian Smith (Santos de Guapiles), Ronald Matarrita (New York City), Bryan Oviedo (Sunderland), Oscar Duarte (Espanyol), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Bologna), Francisco Calvo (Minnesota United), Kendall Waston (Vancouver Whitecaps), Johnny Acosta (Rionegro Aguilas).

Midfielders: David Guzman (Portland Timbers), Yeltsin Tejeda (Lausanne-Sport), Celso Borges (Deportivo La Coruna), Randall Azofeifa (CS Herediano), Rodney Wallace (New York City), Bryan Ruiz (Sporting Lisbon), Daniel Colindres, Christian Bolanos (both Deportivo Saprissa).

Forwards: Johan Venegas (Deportivo Saprissa), Joel Campbell (Real Betis), Marco Urena (Los Angeles FC).

Keylor Navas & 6 MLS players named in Costa Rica's 23-man World Cup squad

Serbia

Goalkeepers: Vladimir Stojkovic (Partizan Belgrade), Predrag Rajkovic (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Marko Dmitrovic (Eibar).

Defenders: Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Branislav Ivanovic (Zenit St Petersburg), Dusko Tosic (Guangzhou R&F), Antonio Rukavina (Villarreal), Milos Veljkovic (Werder Bremen), Milan Rodic (Red Star Belgrade), Uros Spajic (Krasnodar), Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina).

Midfielders: Nemanja Matic (Manchester United), Luka Milivojevic (Crystal Palace), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio), Marko Grujic (Liverpool), Adem Ljajic (Torino), Dusan Tadic (Southampton), Filip Kostic (Hamburg), Andrija Zivkovic (Benfica), Nemanja Radonjic (Red Star Belgrade).

Strikers: Aleksandar Mitrovic (Newcastle United), Aleksandar Prijovic (PAOK Salonika), Luka Jovic (Benfica).

Serbia name their 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup including Milinkovic

The World Cup will start on June 14.