After eight years, Croatia and Brazil will meet again at the World Cup. While these rivals started the Brazilian championship, this time they will meet in the quarterfinals. The Croatians only made their way after penalties, the Brazilians, on the other hand, slipped through without any problems.
For the second time in a row, the Croatian national team advanced to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, so Zlatko Dalić’s team can still dream of another participation in the final. Just like four years ago, 90 minutes were not enough to progress and they only got past Japan after a penalty shoot-out.
In this, the Croatians confirmed their experience with these tense moments and finished much more confidently than the Japanese shooters. Furthermore, goalkeeper Livaković shone in goal, saving three penalties and proving to be another successful product of the Croatian goalkeeping school.
Croatia once again confirm their medal potential at this tournament and are a team for which Brazilian strategist Tite needs to prepare his young charges well. His counterpart Dalić has a really strong and experienced background. Modrić, Perišić or Brozović, who was in top form at the tournament and tirelessly manages the reserve line-up, will certainly not be missing from the starting lineup.
Defensively, still only 20-year-old Joško Gvardiol has developed into a great leader, guarding Livaković’s goal with a mask like the Batman of the Gotham streets. But in the case of Brazil, the really dangerous villains will enter his zone.
Brazil’s attacking leader Neymar returned to the lineup in the round of 16 and a troubled performance in his final group match against Cameroon suddenly fizzled. The Seleção scored four goals in the first half of the round of 16 against South Korea, Neymar added an assist and a penalty to his account and was able to play the second half for maintenance with his teammates.
This could be an advantage against Croatia, who played 30 minutes longer in extra time. Especially when Brazil relies heavily on speed. Vinícius Júnior has the one on the wing, who ventilated the South Korea defense in the round of 16 and also scored a goal and an assist. In addition, Richarlison is grinding his teeth on the World Cup top scorer crown with three hits to his credit.
However, all individual goals are subordinated to the collective one, which is the advancement and eventual winning of gold medals. It must be said that in the days when there was bad news about the health of the greatest legend of Brazilian football, Pelé, the Brazilians took care of their motivation.
But the Croatians also have good motivation. In addition to having a very experienced team, whose skeleton has already gone through this difficult stage of the tournament once, they also have something to pay off with Brazil. They lost to her eight years ago in their first match, they also lost to her in Germany in 2006 and were unsuccessful in a friendly four years ago.
The tournament’s demanding schedule and maximum sporting commitment left their mark on both teams’ squads and on the legs of their players. As for Brazil, Gabriel Jesus and Alex Telles are out until the end of the tournament. The start of Alex Sandro is also unlikely, but in case of promotion he could reach the next matches. The Croatians have some question marks in defence. Borna Sosa and Josip Stanišić missed the match against Japan due to ill health and their starts remain uncertain.
