It's day 9 and your favourite dynamic duo are back in Saint Petersburg. They're talking VAR, they're talking 'on this day', they're even talking to Monsieur Le and what dishes he'll be making. What more could you ask for?! (4:51) Thursday saw Denmark and Australia draw, France hold off Peru and Croatia rip Argentina to shreds. In terms of our experts, Julien Laurens was the leading light on the day, grabbing a second win of the week with an impressive 60-point performance. Julien not only projected the correct result for Australia-Denmark and France-Peru but also got both scorelines spot-on to secure maximum points for both games. Gab Marcotti, Ale Moreno, Alex Pareja and Ricardo Puig -- the only expert to accurately pick Croatia over Argentina -- also had impressive showings tallying 40 points apiece. Friday is a new day though. Will our experts continue their run of good form or will Friday's trio of games knock them back a peg? The first match on Friday sees Brazil try to get their first win of the tournament against a Costa Rica side who will be eliminated if they lose. Every single one of our pundits backs Tite's men, with ESPN Brasil's Leonardo Bertozzi opting for a 3-1 victory. UPDATE: It looked like our pundits were going to go home empty handed before Brazil scored twice in stoppage time for a 2-0 win, handing 30 points for the correct scoreline to Shaka Hislop, Caro Guillen and Damian Didonato. Next up it's a similar story with Nigeria eliminated if they lose to Iceland. Three pundits back the Super Eagles, including our Nigerian journalist Colin Udoh, who says it will be 2-0. Five people predict a draw, with only two going for Iceland. UPDATE: What a day for Colin and his Nigeria team! A vital win and the correct 2-0 scoreline too! Miguel Pasquel and Shaka Hislop also picked a Super Eagles win. We finish the day with Serbia against Switzerland. Only ESPN FC television analyst Stevie Nicol thinks Aleksandar Kolarov and Serbia have what it take to grab back-to-back wins, with five predictions of a draw and four opting for a Switzerland victory. Let's hope ESPN Mexico's Miguel Pasquel is not correct about the goalless draw! UPDATE: Superb from Damian who picks up his second correct prediction with a 2-1 Switzerland win, and he is victorious with a total of 60 points. Mauricio Pedroza also got the scoreline correct, while Leonardo Bertozzi and Manu Martin picked a Swiss win too. Check out how our pundits got on with their predictions for Thursday's games and remember to join the pundits' league in Match Predictor. We've got our top talent on hand from England, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Australia and Africa -- many of whom will be based out in Russia for the tournament -- to analyse each and every one of the 64 matches. We'll score our experts just as we do in the Match Predictor -- 10 points for correct result, with a bonus 20 points for getting the scoreline right too. Who will come out on top on Friday? MATCHDAY 9 PREDICTIONS BRA-CRC NGA-ISL SRB-SUI PTS Shaka Hislop 2-0 1-0 1-1 40 Steve Nicol 3-0 1-1 1-0 10 Paul Mariner 3-0 1-1 1-1 10 Caro Guillen 2-0 0-1 1-1 30 Mauricio Pedroza 3-2 1-2 1-2 40 Manu Martin 1-0 1-1 0-2 20 Leonardo Bertozzi 3-1 0-0 0-1 20 Damian Didonato 2-0 1-1 1-2 60 Miguel Pasquel 3-1 2-1 0-0 20 Colin Udoh 3-0 2-0 1-1 40 ESPN Experts panel: ESPN FC: Shaka Hislop, Stevie Nicol, Paul Mariner ESPN Deportes: Caro Guillen, Mauricio Pedroza, Manu Martin ESPN Brasil: Leonardo Bertozzi ESPN Colombia: Damian Didonato ESPN Mexico: Miguel Pasquel Kwese, Africa: Colin Udoh<doc-sep>We hate to make this day about Argentina and Lionel Messi, but that's what we're going to do. Iceland vs Nigeria is a massive match for both two teams involved but for La Pulga and the mess that is Argentina, it's their World Cup fate. Brazil will also look to get back on track after a disappointing draw vs Switzerland. Serbia and Switzerland are vying for the last spot in Group E so don't miss that one! Our Chameleon Leon will be predicting Switzerland vs Serbia as well! Tune into our facebook page at 1PM ET to catch his pick. Here are the picks from Connor Fleming (@conmanfleming), Bryce Badwan (@bbadss) and Travis Yoesting (@travisyoesting). Brazil vs Costa Rica Connor: Brazil -Costa Rica will try to wax Neymar early and often, but Brazil's other weapons will dictate this game. The Seleção probably get four or five here. Bryce: Brazil - Nothing crazy here. I think Brazil get back on track with a convincing performance vs the Ticos. They'll try and play rough and rowdy, but Brazil should take care of business. Travis: Brazil - Assuming he plays, Neymar will be hacked by Costa Rica just as much as by Switzerland, but Costa Rica is too old to keep up with the verve of Brazil. Game Info: 8:00AM ET Saint Petersburg Stadium FS1, Telemundo Nigeria vs Iceland Connor: Iceland - Iceland's just too difficult to breakdown. Nigeria need the three points, and that only plays into what Iceland does so well. Bryce: Iceland - Iceland are a team that trust the system and believe in their roles. They aren't as talented or fast as Nigeria, but Nigeria did little to show me they'll be able to finish against Iceland. I see the Vikings coming through 1-0. Travis: Nigeria - Iceland held on for dear life against Argentina. Against Nigeria, the game should be more open, which will play to the strength of the Super Eagles. Game Info: 11:00AM ET Volgograd Arena FOX, Telemundo Switzerland vs Serbia Connor: Serbia - The Swiss can't handle Mitrovic. Bryce: Switzerland - I liked Serbia. I think they could easily win this game. But Switzerland seem to have some type of moxie about them. This will be a physcial match, so with the way things are going, a 1-0 finish with a penalty being the loan goal wouldn't shock me. Travis: Draw - Both teams will want a win but even more neither team can afford a loss. Unless there's a red card, I expect a low-scoring, low-action contest. Game Info: 2:00PM ET Kaliningrad Stadium FOX, Telemundo<doc-sep>The ninth day of Fifa World Cup 2018 made sure that match did not get over until the very last minute. While Coutinho and Neymar scored in the additional time of the second half against Costa Rica to seal a 2-0 victory for Brazil, the moment of the day came when Shaqiri scored in the 90th minute for Switzerland and removed his shirt and flexed his muscles. Switzerland won 2-1 against Serbia. Ahmad Musa scored twice to make sure that both Nigeria and Argentina remain alive in the tournament as Nigeria beat Iceland 2-0. Here are the highlights of today’s matches: Match 1: ...<doc-sep>
Add Brazil to the list of World Cup contenders that ran into a roadblock in the opening match of the tournament. After Argentina failed to beat Iceland and Germany lost to Mexico, Brazil, one of the tournament favorites, drew Switzerland 1-1 on Sunday despite creating a boatload of chances to secure three points. The South Americans had 20 shots but could only put four on frame, seeing the Swiss hold them in the second half to split one point apiece. Switzerland played physical, fouled plenty to try and slow down Brazil's rhythm, and it earned a surprising result that puts them in a great spot moving forward. The match was pretty much all Brazil from the beginning, but outside of its lone goal, the ball just didn't want to go in. Philippe Coutinho opened the scoring for the five-time champs with this stunning signature curler in the first half: But then Steven Zuber brought the underdogs level in the second half just minutes in, heading home but also pushing Miranda in the process. No foul was given, and the goal was awarded: From then on, it was all Brazil with Switzerland defending with 10 behind the ball, trying to keep the game level. Yann Sommer made some big stops in the final 20 minutes, but Brazil was also wasteful. Miranda looked to have won the game for Brazil late with this effort, but he failed to put it on frame: It's a fantastic, golden point for Switzerland. It surely thought it would probably get nothing out of this game. As for Brazil, it puts the team in an uncomfortable, yet manageable spot moving forward. Serbia leads the group with three points, Brazil and Switzerland have one and Costa Rica has zero. Relive match commentary from Sunday's Brazil vs. Switzerland match If the live blog doesn't load properly, click here.