Croatia vs Brazil on Friday afternoon in a meeting between two teams that delivered contrasting displays to make it into the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals.

Match Details:

• Location: Doha, Qatar
• Stadium: Education City Stadium
• Date: Friday 9 December
• Kick-off Time: 8:30 PM IST
• Watch: Sports 18/HD, Jio Cinema App

Croatia vs Brazil: Match Preview:

Brazil will look to shake their recent World Cup quarterfinal slump when they face Croatia at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.

The Selecao have lost three of their last four World Cup quarterfinal matches, including in 2018 when they fell to Belgium, tasting early elimination.

Croatia, the 2018 World Cup runners-up, have been poor so far this tournament overall, but have ground out results, with just one win in 90 minutes compared to three draws through their four matches. They qualified for the quarterfinal by beating Japan on penalties.

Still, since the start of the 2018 tournament, Luka Modric and Co. have proven a tough nut to crack, with just one loss through their last 11 World Cup matches, coming in the 2018 final vs France.

After pummeling South Korea in the Round of 16, Neymar will fancy his chances in this match, having returned to the field in that game after missing time with an ankle injury. He faces his old El Clasico rival Modric, as the two are familiar opponents.

Team News:

Croatia:

Croatia were missing two options at fullback against Japan. Josip Stanisic is yet to make an appearance in Qatar but didn’t make the bench for the round of 16 tie while nursing a muscular issue.

Borna Sosa was a more notable absentee. The illness suffered by the marauding left-back robbed Croatia of a key attacking influence and he is a doubt going forward.

Brazil:

Gabriel Jesus and Alex Telles have already been ruled out for the rest of the competition. The Arsenal striker could be sidelined with a knee injury for several months.

Alex Sandro has been struggling with a hip problem since the narrow victory over Switzerland but his club-mate Danilo is an able deputy.

Croatia vs Brazil: Head to Head:

This will be the fifth meeting between the two sides. Brazil have three wins to their name, while one match ended in a draw.

The South Americans were also victorious in each of their previous two meetings at the World Cup against Croatia. Neymar is two goals away from surpassing Pele as his nation’s all-time leading goalscorer. He scored a brace in a 4-1 victory over Croatia in the 2014 World Cup.

Croatia have won all three of their World Cup penalty shootouts. All of Brazil’s five eliminations from the World Cup since 1990 have come at the hands of European opposition.

Predicted Line-ups:

Croatia Starting 11 (4-3-3): Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Barisic; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Kramaric, Livaja, Perisic.
Bench: Grbic, Ivusic, Erlic, Vida, Sutalo, Sosa, Jakic, Sucic, Majer, Osric, Pasalic, Petkovic, Budimir, Vlasic.

Brazil Starting 11 (4-3-3): Alisson; Militao, Marquinhos, Silva, Danilo; Paqueta, Casemiro, Neymar; Raphinha, Richarlison, Vinicius.
Bench: Weverton, Ederson, Bremer, Alves, Fabinho, Guimaraes, Fred, Everton, Martinelli, Antony, Rodrygo, Pedro.

CRO vs BRA: Dream11 Predictions:

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