World Cup 2018: Predicting how far each of the 32 teams will go 

Group E

Brazil will be hoping to put their 2014 campaign behind them

Brazil - Semi Finals

Brazil will be desperate to prove themselves in Russia. The five-time champions have not lifted the World Cup since 2002, and their squad is one of the best in the tournament.

While Brazil reached the semi-finals in 2014, they failed to impress throughout the tournament and were utterly humiliated by Germany in the semi-finals.

Brazil should cruise through their group, before coming against a Mexico side in the round of 16. Mexico are good, but it seems unlikely they will have what it takes to beat Brazil, which means that the Brazilians are likely to encounter either Belgium or England in the quarter-finals.

These two teams could supply a potential banana skin, but if the Brazilians have any realistic ambitions of winning the tournament then they should manage to get past them.

Which means that they will most likely come up against France in the semis. If that is the case, it will be one of the most difficult games in the tournament to predict, but I'm going to give the game to France.

The French team simply feel like more of a unit than the Brazilians, who feel as though they are more a collection of individual talents, as opposed to a well-led side.

Switzerland - Round of 16

Spain v Switzerland - International Friendly

Group E is one of the tournament's most difficult to predict. Switzerland, Serbia and Costa Rica all have a realistic chance of getting out of the group stage and it will largely depend on how well they perform against each other.

Brazil are likely to win the group, which means that the other teams will be left scrapping it out among themselves, though, if one of them can snatch a point against Brazil, then that will go a long way in securing their spot in the knock-out stages.

Switzerland are currently ranked sixth in the world though, and this has buoyed the team with confidence in recent months.

They have never been a nation renowned for playing thrilling football, but their current squad is one of the best that they have ever had, and they could just prove to be one of the surprise packages in Russia this year.

Costa Rica - Group Stage

Costa Rica will be hoping to repeat their success from 2014

Costa Rica surprised the world in their last World Cup outing, topping a group which featured England, Italy and Uruguay before going on to lose third place Holland on penalties in the quarterfinals.

The South American side, who have become one of the continent's best in recent years, will be hoping to repeat that success again in Russia, and despite sharing a group with one of the tournament's favourites, Brazil, there is still a fair chance that they could repeat the feat again.

They will have difficult opponents in the shape of Switzerland and Serbia though, and the Swiss side looks slightly more appealing to me. Realistically though, there is a very reasonable chance that Costa Rica will book their place in the round of 16 and likely come up against reigning champions, Germany.

Serbia - Group Stage

Serbia could cause an upset in a difficult group

Serbia will be making their first World Cup appearance since 2010, but despite their talented squad, it is difficult to see them getting out of a difficult group.

Serbia's squad boats some serious talents, with Dusan Tadic, Branislav Ivanovic, Matija Nastasic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, and Nemanja Matic all set to feature for them during the tournament.

There have been questioned raised over their manager, Mladen Krstajic in the build-up to the tournament though, and whether he will stick around after the tournament remains to be seen.

The Serbs will no doubt put on some impressive displays, but an exit at the group stage seems very likely.