Brazil vs Croatia at FIFA World Cup 2022
The South American giants went into the 2022 tournament as the top-ranked team in the world and many of the names on the list of manager Tite are household names playing for some of the biggest club teams in the world.But the fact remains that the lengthy World Cup drought will weigh on the team given the expectations back home as they go searching for a sixth World Cup title. They were also unsuccessful in the most recent Copa America, placing more pressure on a team with already high expectations.
For most of the road to the Qatar World Cup 2022, Croatia have operated with a revamped squad, and only nine of 2018’s runners-up have made the final squad – and that’s a good thing. Many fresh additions quickly proved their worth – Atalanta winger Mario Pasalic and highly rated Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol among them – and the process only continued in June with Nations League wins away to France and Denmark. New faces Pasalic, Borna Sosa and Lovro Majer scored the goals as Croatia defeated the Danes home and away.
Croatia also look in good shape coming into the tournament, having won their last four games – including a 1-0 victory away to France (who beat them to World Cup glory four years ago) in the Nations League, the finals of which they'll compete in next summer.
As any England fan will tell you, you write Croatia off as tired at your peril. Nevertheless, it feels significant that Zlatko Dalic’s men had to slog it out for 120 minutes plus penalties, while Brazil’s tie was done and dusted well before half time. With the Koreans out of sight, Tite was able to substitute key men such as Neymar and Vinícius Júnior during the second half.