Hosts and tournament favourites, Brazil go into the opening match to start the 2014 FIFA World Cup carnival as outright favourites to beat the Croatians. But the Brazilian Technical Team of Filipe Scolari and Carlos Alberto Parreira should know it won’t be as easy as it is predicted to be for the Selecao. A couple of things should be haunting the two coaches as they plan Croatia’s demolition.
Croatia has a strong European culture that puts a lot of emphasis on a strong organisation, pace and a physical game. But for Croatia in particular, unlike other European teams, they have fused a bit of skill, creativity and good ball work into their game. It comes as no surprise that one of their best midfielders, Ivan Rakitic, is headed for Barcelona – arguably the best team in the world when it comes to ball possession. His combination with Real Madrid star, Luka Modric, in the midfield of the park will no doubt be aimed at keeping the ball away from Brazil as much as they possibly can, while searching for cracks in Brazil’s defence.
These key points should worry Scolari and Parreira. If undermined therein lays the capacity to shock any opposition, Brazil included. After all, they have done it before when as new kids on the block shocked three-times World Champs, Germany 3-0 in in France 1998, to reach the semifinals when they narrowly lost to hosts, France.
However, since that achievement, Croatia has failed to sustain that performance on the world stage, crashing out of the group stages of the 2002 and 2006 World Cup tournaments. Four year later, they failed to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup as they continued to spiral further downward.
They boast an array of stars in the likes of Neymar, Oscar, Fred, Hulk, Paulinho, Fernandinho, Luis Gustavo, David Luiz, to name but a few, and are very strong in all departments, which makes them one of the toughest teams to beat in the World Cup
Despite their positives, they couldn’t have chosen a worse match than playing hosts of Brazil’s calibre to make a comeback on the world stage. Not only have Brazil triumphed over Croatia before – in their 1-0 victory at the 2006 tournament, only managing a 1-all draw in Croatia’s own backyard in 2005 – the Samba Boys go into this match on the back of some confidence inspiring performances. Not only have they won 15 of their last 16 matches – the only loss being to Switzerland last August – they have registered some big victories in recent times, which include a 5-0 and 4-0 drubbing of South Africa and Panama, respectively.
They boast an array of stars in the likes of Neymar, Oscar, Fred, Hulk, Paulinho, Fernandinho, Luis Gustavo, David Luiz, to name but a few, and are very strong in all departments, which makes them one of the toughest teams to beat in the World Cup.
Croatia is likely to employ a defensive approach whereby they congest the midfield to try and deal with Brazil’s numerous attack options and rely mostly on counter-attack tactics to catch Brazil on the break. But this too, could prove suicidal for the Croatians, who do not seem to have a strong enough defender that can single-handedly play a player like Neymar out of the game. At least two Croatian defenders may have to be assigned with keeping Neymar under watch, which would allow players like Oscar and Fred more room to operate and cause damage.
Playing in front of their home crowd, it goes without saying that Brazil will have the supporters as the 12th player on the field, so much that even if they may take the lead first they may not win in silencing the vociferous Brazilian fans.
Odds are against Croatia going into this one, but underestimated, they could cause a big shock by a successful tactical game.
The match, which will follow the traditional 25-minute long Opening Ceremony, will kickoff on Thursday at 22h00 CAT.
– By Sipho Kekana
