Switzerland frustrated five-time World Cup winners Brazil in their Group E opener on Sunday, holding the star-studded South American team to a 1-1 draw in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

Despite starting strongly and taking an early lead through a Philippe Coutinho wonder strike, Brazil lost their momentum and allowed Switzerland to draw level when their defense malfunctioned in the most basic of ways.

"I'm not happy with the result, we wanted a victory, but anxiety hit us hard. The pressure was great. Some of the chances were quite clear-cut and we should have been more precise." said Brazil coach Tite.

With Neymar and Coutinho pulling the strings in the early stages, Brazil showed why they are many people's favorites for the title, pressing their opponents back into their own box from the start.

Paulinho forced Swiss keeper Yann Sommer into a fingertip save before Coutinho curled a trademark right-footed shot from outside the area into the top corner in the 20th minute.

It was Brazil's 37th World Cup goal from outside the penalty area since 1966, 11 more than any other team, according to Opta.

Switzerland did well not to wilt and kept the deficit at one until half time, then shocked the favorites five minutes after the restart. Their own little magician, Xherdan Shaqiri, whipped in a corner and Brazil's defense left Steven Zuber completely unmarked to head home from close range -- although there were suggestions from Brazil that the scorer had pushed Miranda.

As the Swiss grew in confidence, Brazil grew visibly tenser, and although the South Americans had a decent penalty appeal ignored when Gabriel Jesus went down with Manuel Akanji's hands all over him, the European side also threatened at times.

In the dying stages Sommer saved headers from Neymar and Roberto Firmino, before Miranda fired a good chance wide of the Swiss goal.

"I'm proud of my team, of the way they presented themselves, they never gave up," said Switzerland manager Vladimir Petkovic.

Serbia sit atop Group E after beating Costa Rica 1-0 in the first match of the day in Samara.

The Central Americans, whose run to the quarter-finals was one of the big stories at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, should have taken the lead from a 12th-minute short corner routine but the unmarked Giancarlo Gonzalez got his header all wrong and sent it well over.

The decisive goal came in the 56th minute when Roma left back Aleksandar Kolarov curled a delightful free kick over the wall and into the corner of the net. It was the third goal from a direct free kick in this tournament, equaling the total for the entire 2014 competition already.

"Set pieces are our forte and I practiced them on the training ground and everything came right today, and fortunately it was enough for three points," Kolarov said. "We will celebrate a bit, but nothing excessive."

Minutes after scoring, Kolarov missed a fine opportunity to make it 2-0 and Serbian No. 9 Aleksandar Mitrovic then blew two clear chances to finish off Costa Rica, for whom Real Madrid keeper Keylor Navas impressed.

Serbia's much-admired Lazio playmaker Sergej Milinkovic-Savic showed why he is being tracked by some of Europe's leading clubs with some elegant passing in an influential performance.

In the other game on Sunday, Mexico shocked Germany 1-0 in their Group F match in Moscow.