Croatia vs Brazil: Crucial test for the Samba against the World runners-up
Brazil have won both of their encounters against Croatia at the World Cup but haven’t defeated a European side in the knockouts since their last title in 2002
Croatia and Brazil will play this Friday (kick-off at 3 p.m.) in the Education City Stadium for a spot in the semifinals of the World Cup. The Canharinha are dancing in this tournament demonstrating their quality in the attacking line, but they will have a hard test against World runners-up Croatia, who can shock any opponent if they are given the chance to do so.
It will be the third time they face each other at the World Cup. Brazil have won the previous two games: 1-0 in Germany 2006 and 3-1 in 2014 as the host team.
Croatia will most likely play their usual 4-3-3 with the midfield as the key line of the team. Luka Modrić, Marcelo Brozović and Mateo Kovačić can control possession in different stages of the game and will try to feed attackers Marko Livaja, Andrej Kramarić and Ivan Perišić. The three strikers are in good form as they all have scored in this World Cup.
The battle in the midfield will be interesting, as Tite probably won’t change the 4-2-3-1 formation with Casemiro and Lucas Paquetá as the double pivot after the 4-1 win against South Korea. The Canarinha showed their strenght and creativity in attack, scoring all their goals in the first half, with Neymar, Vinicius, Rafinha and Richarlison performing at their highest level.
However, the Brazilians are also strong defensively, only conceding two goals in four games.
The Croatian side are experts in taking games deep into extra time before winning them. In their last six knockouts in major tournaments, they have played 120 minutes in five occasions and went to penalties in three of them, winning all of the shootouts.
Their keeper Dominik Livaković demonstrated his quality as a penalty saver, as he blocked three out of the four shots against Japan. He became the third keeper to save at least three penalties in a World Cup shootout along with the Portuguese Ricardo and his country colleague Danijel Subašić.
If Brazil win the fixture, they could end a terrible run, as they have lost all their five encounters in the last four World Cup knockouts against European teams. They were defeated three times in the quarterfinals against France (1-0 in 2006), Netherlands (2-1 in 2010) and Belgium (2-1 in 2018), one time in the semifinals against Germany (7-1 in 2014) and another in the third-place play off facing Netherlands (3-0 in 2014). Their last win against a European side was in the 2002 final, where they beat Germany (2-0) to lift the trophy.
Brazil will not count Gabriel Jesus nor Alex Telles in their ranks for the game. Both suffered non-serious knee injuries in the group stages game against Cameroon and won’t be able to play again in this World Cup. However, it seems that Neymar is fully recovered from his ankle injury, as he played at his best level against South Korea, where he scored a goal and gave an assist.
Zlatko Dalić has his full squad fit and ready for the game.
The winner of this encounter will play next Tuesday (7 p.m., Lusail Iconic Stadium) against Netherlands or Argentina.
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