Brazil – Switzerland (2018 World Cup)
Ready to erase the bad image left in the previous edition of the competition, Brazil begin their journey in the 2018 World cup by facing Switzerland for the 1st round of Group E, this Sunday at the Rostov Arena. The Brazilian national team arrive here confident after a successful results in the preparation matches. Switzerland, on their turn, had a very good campaign during the 2018 World Cup qualification matches and are equally confident after their preparation matches.
Brazil is the most successful national team in the World Cup history, having won this competition five times with the last one being in 2002, and since then they have reached the quarterfinals in 2006 and 2010, and the semi-finals in 2014, where they were hosts of the competition and ended up being absolutely humiliated by Germany, who would later win the World Cup, losing 7-1. After the humiliation four years ago, the Brazilians now dream of erasing that shameful image of the memory of the memory of their people by conquering their 6th trophy. The Canarinha won their 4 friendly matches played since the beginning of 2018, starting with a victory over Russia (3-0) and Germany (0-1), both in March, and two more victories against Croatia (2-0) and Austria (0-3) both in June.
This is one of the most talented national teams nowadays and are among the pre-tournament favourites, which is justified by a fantastic squad, with Alisson and Ederson on goal, Marcelo, Thiago Silva and Marquinhos, among others, at the back, Casemiro, Fred, Coutinho and Fernandinho, among others, providing solidity and offensive creativity in the midfield, and Firmino, Willian, Neymar and Gabriel Jesus up front. Tite’s side have only lost two of their last 30 matches and have kept clean sheets in each of their last five. Fred is nursing an ankle injury and is unlikely to be available on Sunday.
Probable Lineup: Alisson – Danilo, Silva, Miranda and Marcelo – Casemiro, Paulinho and Coutinho – Willian, Jesus and Neymar.
Switzerland, on their turn, have participated in the last 3 editions of the World Cup, having managed to reach the round of 16 in 2006 and 2014 but unable to move forward on both occasions. The Swiss enjoyed a good campaign during the 2018 World Cup qualification matches, losing only 1 out of 10 Group B matches, against Portugal, and are undefeated in the 4 friendly matches played since the beginning of the year, starting with a victory over Greece (1-0) and Panama (6-0), both in March, and after that a draw against Spain (1-1) and a victory over Japan (2-0), both in June.
Coach Vladimir Petkovic has a very talented team at his disposal, with a few names standing out, such as the goalkeeper Yann Sommer, defenders Lichtsteiner and Ricardo Rodríguez, among others, midfielders such as Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, and strikers like Embolo and Seferovic. Switzerland picked up two impressive results in their World Cup warm-up games, holding Spain to a 1-1 draw and beating Japan 2-0, but Brazil may prove to be too much for them.
Probable Lineup: Sommer – Lichtsteiner, Schar, Akanji and Rodríguez – Behrami and Xhaka – Shaqiri, Freuler and Zuber – Seferovic.
In the last 28 years there were two direct clashes between both national teams, with Brazil winning one and losing the other.
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Switzerland
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1-0 |
 Brazil |
Friendly Match 2013
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Switzerland
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1-2 |
Brazil |
Friendly Match 2006
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More than a huge will to win the World cup is the desire of erasing the image left in 2014, and Brazil will do everything in their power to start the competition with a comfortable victory. Besides that, Brazil have much more talented individualities, with more experience and with a huge competitive playing rhythm. Having said this, the Canarinha should be able to have a strong start in the World Cup.
