Brazil confronts its joy with the Croatian character

Brazil confronts its joy with the Croatian character

The 'Canarinha' look for the ticket to the semis with their vertical football and the 'dance', against a Croatia that dreams of repeating the feat

   MADRID, 8 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Brazilian team will seek this Friday (4:00 p.m.) against Croatia to get the ticket to the World Cup semifinals in Qatar, trusting their strong options to their cheerful and vertical football, with an attack phase that 'intimidates', while the Europeans will appeal to their combative character to prolong his feat and repeat the success of four years ago.

Tite's team arrives with morale and confidence through the roof after overwhelming South Korea (4-1) with a fantastic first half. Walls, combinations, constant attack, filigree and verticality are some of the ingredients of this brave and fun Brazil. Without too much concern for tactical rigor, the 'Professor' has managed to put together an 'eleven' that he defends with the ball and presses in unison, like an accordion.

When the 40 minutes of play were close, the 'Canarinha' had already sentenced the round of 16 with a resounding 4-0. A result that allowed him to dose his efforts ahead of the duel against the Croats, for which Tite is expected to go to the same starting eleven. The goalkeeper Alisson is indisputable, as is a defense with Militao in the right lane due to the loss of Alex Telles and the doubt of Alex Sandro, two situations that force Danilo to travel to the left side.

The pairing of central defenders Marquinhos-Thiago Silva is non-negotiable, with Casemiro as a pivot who will act, as up to now, as an anchor for all the offensive power of this team. Paqueta and a Neymar already at one hundred percent complete the midfield. Meanwhile, Vinicius, who has scored a goal and two assists in his first World Cup; Raphinha and Richarlison, the top Brazilian scorer in the tournament (3) will be in charge of scoring the goals.

The five-time world champion wants to regain the world throne 20 years later, already as the team that leads all the figures in the history of the tournament, with 113 games played, 76 victories and 236 goals scored. And in Qatar they are being one of the most attractive teams, although they are also controversial due to their dances when celebrating goals, even with the coach Tite being part of them.

"Joy is the identity of Brazilian soccer, it's not me, it's the generation that has just emerged," Tite commented on Brazil's game model, who argued that the way his squad celebrates goals responds to "history , the culture and the way of life of Brazil". "If I have to dance, I will dance. In a very subtle way I asked them to hide me, it's not my profile. I have to improve...", he joked.

However, the 'Canarinha' will have to continue breaking complexes that it drags from the past. And it is that their background against teams from the 'Old Continent' is very poor, since since their triumph in the 1994 World Cup, their eliminations (5) have been at the hands of European rivals. Perhaps Croatia will hold on to this statistic to continue forging its indomitable and combative character that led it to the 2018 final and which allowed it to suffer a happy ending against Japan in the quarterfinals in Qatar.

The 'chess' team once again dreamed big in a World Cup after overcoming with excessive suffering an exhausting tie against the Japanese that required penalties. Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic emerged as a hero by saving three shots in the third set the Croats have won at a World Cup.

Thus, Dalic's men advanced to the quarterfinals for the third time in their history, with the guarantee and confidence that on the other two occasions they entered the top four teams in the tournament. It is the perfect moment for this generation, a finalist in Russia 2018, to put the finishing touch to their performance in this type of tournament, with a capacity for suffering and endurance like few teams.

They all give more options to Brazil and to all the teams that play against us like Argentina, Brazil and Spain that are always favourites. But we have shown many times that the favorites do not always win. That doesn't worry us. We respect everyone but we are also capable of anything", highlighted coach Dalic, who will again bet on the Gvardiol-Lovren pairing in defense and will rely on his strong and talented trinomial Brozovic-Modric-Kovacic in midfield. With the doubt of the '9' holder between Livaja, Petkovic and Vlasic.

CROATIA: Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Guardiol, Sosa; Brozovic, Modric, Kovacic; Kramaric, Livaja y Perisic.

BRAZIL: Alisson; Militao, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Danilo; Casemiro, Paqueta, Neymar; Raphinha, Richarlison and Vinicius.

--REFEREE: Michael Oliver (ING).

   --ESTADIO: Education City Stadium.

--TIME: 4:00 p.m./Gol Mundial and Movistar.