Goals Will Be Hard to Come By In Costa Rica vs. Switzerland

Costa Rica vs. Switzerland, 2 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

• Switzerland -143
• Costa Rica +581
• Draw +246

Bet to Watch:

Under 2 goals +129

The incentives for Switzerland in the final match of their group are quite confusing. They aren't quite guaranteed to progress from the group, but the situation where they are eliminated is quite unlikely. They'd have to lose to the already eliminated Costa Rica AND Brazil would need to narrowly lose to Serbia. That would leave Serbia in first place in the group with Brazil holding the tiebreaker over Switzerland for second (should Brazil get blown out it's possible Switzerland could advance even with a loss, depending on goal difference or goals scored).

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Regardless, Switzerland is in a good place. They also might prefer coming in second and ending up on the easier side of the bracket (away from not only Brazil but also France, and probably Germany). So, they probably aren't going to be looking to run up the score with an eye toward increasing their goal difference in order to leapfrog Brazil into first. And on top of that, Switzerland is a defensive team, playing against Costa Rica, an extremely defensive team. It has all the hallmarks of a game where everybody's just going through the motions.

Switzerland will certainly be happy to keep Costa Rica from building attacks while not taking any chances themselves. And while Costa Rica has nothing to lose, they also don't have the ability to force the issue. If the underdogs somehow get an early goal, which jeopardizes Switzerland's chances of progressing, than the game will open up. But barring that, it looks like it's going to be a dull, cautious match.