Three things to watch for in Brazil’s quarterfinal clash with Croatia
Five-time champions Brazil are set to face Croatia in a World Cup quarterfinal on Friday.
Brazil demolished South Korea in the Round of 16, while Croatia got the better of Japan in a penalty shootout.
Brazil are going to start as the favorites on Friday, but Croatia, who finished runners-up in the last World Cup, are not going to give in without a fight.
In this article, we are going to look at the three factors that are going to determine the fate of the match.
The brilliant attack of Brazil against Croatia’s defense
Brazil quite possibly have the best attack in the world at the moment, with players like Neymar, Richarlison, Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo, Raphinha, Antony and Lucas Paqueta at their disposal. They toyed with South Korea’s defense in the Round of 16 and Croatia will likely have to weather an early storm.
However, as Switzerland demonstrated, the Brazil attack can be contained and kept at bay for the majority of the match. Still, it will take a lion-hearted performance from the Croatian defenders to do so.
Both Dejan Lovren and Josko Gvardiol have been in good form of late, with the latter being one of the outstanding defenders of the tournament.
However, the Croatian full-backs cannot afford to go into overlaps too often on Friday and Josip Juranovic will have to curb his attacking instincts against Brazil.
Croatia have conceded just two goals in the tournament thus far and the Brazilians might not find it easy to breach their defense. It promises to be an absorbing battle between the redoubtable attack of Brazil and the defensive might of Croatia.
The roles of the Croatian midfielders
Expect Croatia to play a 4-2-3-1 on Friday instead of their customary 4-3-3, with both Matteo Kovacic and Marcelo Brozovic staying back and helping their defenders. The Croatians will need to have more men behind the ball and the above two should drop down as much as possible.
This means that the talismanic Luka Modric is going to be the sole creative midfielder for the Croatians and he should be ready to play a few long, forward passes as Croatia break into a counter.
Modric will also fall back from time to time, as he has throughout the tournament to increase numbers inside his own half.
It will be up to the likes of Casemiro and Fred to nullify the influence of Modric. However, with Brazil likely to dominate ball-possession, the chances for Croatia are likely to be few and far between.
The threat posed by Ivan Perisic
Perisic is one player the Brazilians will be wary of, along with Modric. His constant darting runs down the left flank hurt Japan, and he has the ability to move inside and score goals with his lethal finishing.
Perisic is a player who thrives on big occasions and will try to make the most of the opportunities he gets on Friday. He should also try to send in as many crosses as possible from the left.
The big Croatian forwards like Bruno Petkovic and Andrej Kramaric have the ability to be dangerous in air and Thiago Silva and Marquinhos should be ready to negate that threat as well.
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Brazil will have Eder Militao as the right-back and the Real Madrid defender is more comfortable playing as a centre-back and prefers to stay in his own half. Hence, Perisic’s job is not going to be easy and he will rely a lot on quick counter-attacks to put pressure on the Brazilian defense.