How to watch World Cup Day 9: Set your alarm as Brazil vs. Costa Rica open the day

Thursday’s schedule was looking particularly enticing at World Cup 2018 and boy did it not disappoint. Denmark and Australia played a 1-1 draw to open the morning then France advanced to the second round while eliminating Peru with their 1-0 win. And the highlight of the day was Croatia announcing their presence with authority as they beat Argentina 3-0 which started by a comically bad goalkeeper gaffe. Croatia has advanced to the second round while Argentina are in big trouble with only one point from two played.

Brazil vs. Costa Rica

Time: 5:00 AM

Location: Saint Petersburg Stadium, St. Petersburg

TV: Fox Sports 1 (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)

Announcing team: Mark Followill and Warren Barton (English)

Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes

Brazil were the betting favorite entering the tournament but as has happened to quite a few of the top teams in Russia, they stumbled in their opener only earning a 1-1 draw with Switzerland. The Swiss fouled Neymar with vigor and it has affected the Brazilian star’s training leading up to this game.

Costa Rica were 1-0 losers in their opener to Serbia, despite Keylor Navas’s best efforts in net. They were not able to sneak up on teams like they did in Brazil 2014 en route to a best ever Quarterfinal appearance. A loss here would eliminate Costa Rica and they are on a three game losing streak having lost 4-1 to Belgium and 2-0 to England in the lead up to the World Cup.

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Nigeria vs. Iceland

Time: 8:00 AM

Location: Volgograd Arena, Volgograd

TV: Fox Sports 1 (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)

Announcing team: Derek Rae and Aly Wagner (English)

Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes

All of Argentina will be closely watching this Group D match as Argentina was badly beaten by Croatia 3-0 yesterday. This gives both Iceland and Nigeria an opening. Croatia has already advanced to the second round but both of these teams control their own destiny.

Iceland again shocked the soccer world with a 1-1 draw against Argentina in their first ever World Cup match. While Nigeria were thoroughly beaten by what looks to be a very dangerous Croatia team in their opener. With two wins either of these teams would qualify for the round of 16 regardless of other results. A draw here might slightly favor Iceland, although they do have Croatia looming in their finale and you do not want to give Argentina an opening. The neutrals will mostly be with Iceland as the story of a small island nation of 350,000 people even making it to the World Cup is more likely the storyline of Goal 2: Viking Victory than an actual country that size making it through UEFA qualifying. Iceland’s TV share, meaning the percentage of people with a TV on, watching their first ever World Cup game was 99.6%.

Serbia vs. Switzerland

Time: 11:00 AM

Location: Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad

TV: FOX (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)

Announcing team: Glenn Davis and Cobi Jones (English)

Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes

The rest of Group E, along with Brazil and Costa Rica, will play this game knowing full well how the early match finished. Switzerland is a chronically overlooked team even though they are currently ranked 6th by FIFA rankings (10th in ELO) while Serbia is 34th in FIFA and 20th in ELO. Should Serbia win this match they will qualify for the second round for the first time ever competing as an independent nation.

A win will not guarantee that Switzerland advance, but with a winnable game against Costa Rica to finish the group the chances are good.

This is your Sounder at Heart World Cup Day 9 gamethread. Watch with us.