The Brazilian national team, perhaps the top title candidate in Qatar 2022, will face Croatia, the current world runner-up, this Saturday in an attractive crossover which will kick off the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
The match will be played at the Education City Stadium, in the city of Al Rayan, seven kilometers from the center of Doha, from 12 in Argentina, with public television broadcasting.
The referee will be the English Michael Oliver who will be accompanied by compatriots assistants Stuart Burt and Alan Beswick and Algerian Mustapha Ghorbal as fourth official, while the Dutch Pol Van Boekel will lead the VAR.
The winner of this match will play in the semifinals before the winner of the crossing which will also animate this Friday but later, from 16:00, the Argentina and Holland.
In the event that the match between the Brazilians and Croatians ends in a draw at the end of 90 minutes, there will be another 30 minutes of added time and if the tie persists, the semi-finalist will be determined in a series of penalty kicks.
Only by mentioning the two “10” that Al Rayan will offer the show can we understand the hierarchy of the match: Neymar for the Brazilian, recovered from the sprained ankle suffered on his debut against Serbia, and Luka Modric for the Balkans.
A level of excellence among teams with players of enormous quality, with verticality in attack and talent, qualities that will give the draw a “goal sensation” at the start of each attack.
Brazil’s performance on the pitch impresses, Neymar, the “different”, is associated with Lucas Paquetá, Vinicius Junior, Raphinha and Richarlison. If they play the same score, the team achieves a significant amount of play.
In addition, as if the offensive facet were scarce to speak of a great candidate for the title, a midfielder with a dominant Casemiro is added, plus the experience of Thiago Silva in the back lines, together with Marquinhos and an important goalkeeper like Alisson Becker.
In the group stage, Brazil beat Serbia (2-0) and Switzerland (1-0), losing to an alternative team in Cameroon (0-1), but in the round of 16, for many, at the “beginning” of the World, they beat South Korea (4-1), with a full first half and a regular second, showing the true face of a team that traveled to Qatar to win its sixth cup.
Croatia, based on the team that lost 4-2 in the 2018 Russia final to France, are one of the teams playing the best football in Europe, despite only winning one match in this World Cup so far. The Croatian is Modric, Real Madrid star, exquisite player, velvet right foot.
The Croatians put pressure on their rival’s exit and have a lot of individual quality, given that in addition to Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Iván Perisic and Mateo Kovacic stand out in the gestation area and goals with Bruno Petkovic and Andrej Kramaric.
In the group stage Croatia drew against Morocco (0-0), beat Canada (4-1) and drew with Belgium (0-0) and in the round of 16 they definitively eliminated Japan (1-1) with shots penalty penalty from the penalty spot with goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic as a figure deflecting three shots.
Brazil will be looking to break ‘karma’ and beat a European team in the knockout stage, something they haven’t done since the 2002 Japan-Korea Cup, when they ended up becoming Olympians after beating Germany in the final.
In 2006 he was eliminated by France (4th), in 2010 by Holland (4th), in 2014 by Germany (semifinals), in 2018 by Belgium (4th), and also lost the match for third place against the Netherlands in 2014.
At the World Cup he played twice with Brazilian triumphs, 1-0 in Germany 2006 and 3-1 in Brazil 2014, both in the group stage.
Probable formations
Brazil: Alisson Becker; Danilo, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos and Eder Militao; Lucas Paquetá and Casemiro; Vinicius Junior, Neymar and Raphinha; richarison. DT: Tito
Croatia: Dominik Livakovic; Josip Juranovic, Dejan Lovren, Josko Gvardiol and Borna Barisic; Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Mateo Kovacic and Iván Perisic; Andrej Kramaric and Bruno Petkovic. DT: Zlatko Dalik.
Referee: Michael Oliver (England).
Stage: City of Education, in Rayyan.
Start time: 12.
TV: Public TV.
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.