(MENAFN- MENAFN.COM)
Brazil, who kicked off the FIFA World Cup finals as overwhelming favourites to triumph for a record sixth time, are simply buzzing at Qatar 2022.
The South Americans, who suffered the knockout blow to Belgium in the quarter-finals at Russia 2018, are back to their entertaining best. They are brimming with confidence and showing a swagger that they hadn’t displayed for a number of years at the world’s most-viewed sporting showpiece.
Yet the Brazilians will be aware that their record in the last eight at World Cup finals is dismal. They have often underperformed, and been eliminated in three of their past four World Cup quarter-final battles.
However, this set of players is very different to those in the recent past. So Brazil should be able to end their typical quarter-final slumps when they face Croatia for a semi-final berth.
Brazil could become the first country since Uruguay, almost a century ago, to capture the World Cup after winning two Olympic gold medals on the spin. They are 7/4 favourites to win Qatar 2022, only slightly ahead of defending champions France (4/1).
Having proved successful with their silky skills at the Rio 2016 Games, the Brazilians added another gold at the Tokyo 2020 and are steaming towards the trophy in the tiny gulf of Qatar.
Their plethora of exciting talent includes Neymar, who became only the third Brazilian to score at three or more World Cup finals. The Paris Saint-Germain striker’s spot-kick in the 4-1 last 16 battering of South Korea moved Neymar to one goal shy of equalling Pele’s record of 77 international goals.
If Brazil are going to be crowned champions then Neymar, who was troubled early on in the winter tournament by an ankle injury, will surely play a major part.
Luka Modric is competing in his last World Cup finals, but Croatia haven’t been a patch of the side that finished runners-up to French at Russia 2018 that accounts for being 33/1 to win the tournament. That may have been Croatia’s last defeat at the showpiece tournament, yet they have been grinding out results rather than setting the world alight with eye-pleasing performances.
Croatia have navigated themselves to the quarters by registering just one victory in 90 minutes, and only squeezed into the last eight by seeing off Japan on the lottery of a penalty shoot-out.
Brazil are heavily fancied in the betting market to win this match (4/11). With top new Australian betting sites like Picklebet and PlayUp having recently cropped up, there are some highly-competitive odds on offer to attract punters. Croatia (15/2) are considered massive underdogs to find their way past a Brazil backline that’s only conceded twice at the winter tournament. And Croatia have yet to beat the Brazilians in four meetings.
A mouth-watering semi-final showdown against Argentina or the Netherlands, awaits the victor. Both sides have looked edgy, especially in defence, but Brazil would prefer a clash with the Dutch having fallen to Argentina in the 2021 Copa America final. The last time there was an iconic Argentina-Brazil World Cup clash, the Brazilians were beaten by Claudio Cannigia’s winner in the last 16 tie.
Ever since Brazil last lifted the World Cup trophy in 2002, European nations have totally dominated the pinnacle of the sport to be the global powerhouse. Italy won the 2006 tournament, Spain triumphed in 2010, the Germans were victorious in 2014 with France successful four years later.
France have been turning on the style throughout the tournament, breezing into their quarter-final with England. Head coach Didier Deschamps may be missing key players from his squad, but has an array of hot-shot strikers to choose from such as Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappe.
Recent rumours have been rife that the French camp is suffering a bust-up before they tackle the Three Lions, who in contrast are in harmony and have hit a purple patch.
If France were to succeed, they would become the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil’s feat in 1962. As well as the hurdle of England to potentially overcome, Les Bleus would then have to see off either Morocco or Cristiano Ronaldo’s in-form Portugal in the semi-finals. Morocco fended off shot-shy Spain courtesy of a penalty shoot-out following a scoreless stalemate, while Portugal were unstoppable to tear past sorry Switzerland.
With eight teams in contention to play in the final at the Lusail Stadium a week before Christmas, the Brazilians seem to be in pole position but nothing is guaranteed and this Qatar tournament has already delivered plenty of shock results.
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