Tens of thousands of soccer-crazed Brazilian fanatics will flock to the Arena de Sao Paulo on June 12 as the hometown favorites will face Croatia to kick-start the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The five-time World Cup champions will look to start strong against a seemingly overmatched foe, while Croatia will try to silence the home crowd in a shocker.
Pressure will be heavy on the Brazilians’ shoulders as they attempt to win yet another world cup championship, as we discussed in our Group A preview, Croatia may be the team that most challenges the hosts, though they didn’t make our list of World Cup sleepers.
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Brazil vs. Croatia, World Cup 2014, Group Stage Betting Preview and Prediction
Brazil hasn’t lost a competitive soccer game at home since 1975, an astounding fact that will come into play as the South American nation begin’s hosting its second World Cup. The Brazilian national soccer squad dubbed as A Selecao (The Selection) will be the team to beat in 2014 as they are hoping to extend their record of most World Cup championships to six.
[sc:Soccer240banner ]The team will be comprised of 16 of the 23 players that devastated their competition last summer in the FIFA Confederations Cup, which was also held in Brazil. The team only carries five holdovers from Brazil’s 2010 World Cup team, which was knocked out in the quarterfinals. Having found their form over the course of Confederations Cup championship form, they will be hard to stop as the +300 favorites to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
One of the keys to Brazil’s devastating offense in the upcoming World Cup will be Neymar, who contributed four of the 14 goals Brazil scored in the Confederations Cup. Aside from playing for Brazil in the Confederations Cup, the young, dazzling forward scored four goals and recorded 3 assists in 10 matches for Barcelona in the recently concluded 2014 UEFA Champions League. He will look to use his exemplary technique to score and electrify the Brazilian crowd.
Joining Neymar for Brazil is midfielder Oscar, one of the elite players at his position in the world. Playing for Chelsea, Oscar does it all, dropping back and picking up possession from the center-backs, orchestrating full-field attacks and setting up plays for his strikers, or even runing beyond them and scoring himself.
A Selecao is 8-1-1 in their last 10 International Friendlies.
Betting on Croatia
Croatia had a good start in the UEFA Qualifiers, but struggled down the stretch as they ended their last five matches in Group A with a record of 1-3-1, finishing 2nd in the group.
To make matters worse, Croatia will not be able to field one of their stronger forwards in Mario Mandzukic after the latter received a red card for a crude challenge against Ireland in their second playoff match. Mandzukic, who amassed a record of three goals and two assists in 10 games for Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League this season, will be sorely missed against Brazil.
However, Croatia will still have creative midfielder Luka Modric, whose time with Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League helped sharpen him up for the World Cup. Modric played in 10 games, scoring one goal and assisting on three others during Madrid’s cup-winning campaign. His passing skills will be an asset in creating scoring opportunities. Even if Croatia doesn’t control play, if and when Modric gets free, the Croatians could challenge.
Croatia is 0-1-1 against Brazil in their two encounters.
Writer’s Prediction
Brazil will be too much for the Croatian team to handle, setting Brazil on course to coast through their group. Take Brazil at -1.5 (EVEN) (meaning Brazil must win by two for the bet to pay out) to grab some value on a game with a heavily-favored money line.
