After eight years, Croatia and Brazil will meet again at the World Cup. While these rivals then started the Brazilian championship, this time they will meet in the quarter-finals. The Croatians fought their way into this only after penalties, the Brazilians, on the other hand, slipped through smoothly.
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 final participation. Just like four years ago, 90 minutes were not enough for them to progress and they only progressed through Japan after a penalty shootout.
In this, the Croatians confirmed their experience with these tense moments and finished much more confidently than the Japanese shooters. In addition, goalkeeper Livaković shone in goal, saving three penalties and proving that he is another successful product of the Croatian goalkeeping school.
Croatia once again confirms its medal potential in this tournament and is a team for which Brazilian strategist Tite must prepare his young charges well. His counterpart Dalić has a really strong and experienced lineup. Modrić, Perišić or Brozović, who was in excellent form at the tournament and tirelessly manages the reserve line, will certainly not be missing from the starting line-up.
In defense, the still only twenty-year-old Joško Gvardiol has developed into a great leader, protecting Livaković’s goal with a mask on like the Batman of the streets of Gotham. But in the case of Brazil, really dangerous villains will enter his area.
Brazil’s offensive leader Neymar returned to the line-up in the round of 16, and the troubled performance of the last group game against Cameroon was suddenly gone. The Seleção scored four goals in the first half of the Round of 16 match against South Korea, Neymar added an assist and a penalty goal to his account and was able to play the second half for maintenance with his teammates.
This could be an advantage against Croatia, which played an extra 30 minutes in overtime. Especially when Brazil relies a lot on speed. Vinícius Júnior has that on the wing, who ventilated South Korea’s defense in the round of 16 and also scored a goal and an assist. In addition, Richarlison grinds his teeth on the crown of the top scorer of the World Cup with three hits on his account.
However, all individual goals are subordinate to the collective one, which is advancement and the eventual winning of gold medals. It must be said that in the days when there were bad news about the health of the greatest legend of Brazilian football, Pelé, Brazilians have taken care of their motivation.
But the Croats also have good motivation. In addition to having a very experienced team, whose skeleton has already been through this difficult stage of the tournament once, they also have something to repay Brazil. They lost to her eight years ago in their opening game, they also lost to her in Germany in 2006 and were also unsuccessful in a friendly four years ago.
The demanding tournament program and maximum sports commitment left scars on the rosters of both teams and on the legs of their players. On the Brazil side, Gabriel Jesus and Alex Telles are out until the end of the tournament. The start of Alex Sandro is also improbable, but in case of promotion, he could make it to the next matches. The Croatians have some question marks in defence. Borna Sosa and Josip Stanišić did not participate in the match against Japan due to health problems and their start remains uncertain.
