In the first match of the 1/4 finals of the World Cup, the national teams of Croatia and Brazil will meet. Will the South American team confirm the status of the favorite? We'll figure it out.
Croatia
Croatia took second place in its group, losing the lead to the national team of Morocco. In the first match of the tournament, Zlatko Dalic's wards went goalless with the African team, in the second match they defeated the Canadian national team (4:1), and the third game, against the Belgian national team, also ended without scoring goals.
In the match of the 1/8 finals, the Croats were stronger than the Japanese only after a series of 11-meter strikes. The main time of the match ended with the score 1:1.
Croatia participated three times in the 1/8 finals of the World Cup and went on in each of the three cases. Recall that she is the current silver medalist of the World Cup.
Brazil
Brazil, after two games in the group stage, guaranteed itself a place in the playoffs of the tournament, having won over Serbia (2:0) and Switzerland (1:0), and in an almost meaningless match (the Brazilians could have lost the first place in the group by incredible layouts) lost to the Cameroon national team (0:1). It is worth noting that in the match against the African team, the head coach of the Brazilians, Tite, gave his leaders a rest, releasing a reserve squad, if, of course, it can be called that.
In the first round of the playoffs, the pentacampeons scored four goals against South Korea in the first half, and in the second 45 minutes they did not strain much, conceding one goal.
It is worth noting that Neymar, who missed two matches in the group stage, recovered from injury.
Statistics and figures
- Brazil is the favorite according to bookmakers;
- Brazil conceded two goals in four matches at the tournament;
- Croatia scored five goals in four matches;
- The Croats have never been able to defeat the Brazilians in four full-time matches;
- The teams met twice at the World Cups, in 2006 and in 2014, and both times the Brazilians won
Forecast
I believe that Brazil will continue to demonstrate top-class football, and the Croats will not be able to hit Alisson's goal, because the strikers' game at this tournament, and their level in general is not the highest, and in the center of the field the South Americans should close Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic.