Right after the draw for the 2018 VCK World Cup group stage, Brazil and Croatia have had similar preparation plans. They are arranging friendly matches with opponents in similar styles to the teams they will meet in Russia in the upcoming match, including a direct confrontation tonight.
For both teams, they will have about 2 weeks left to enter the first match of the World Cup, but up to now, the 2 coaches have not been able to have the strongest squad. For Tite and Brazilian fans, the biggest concern is not the opponents in Group E like Switzerland, Costa Rica or Serbia but Neymar's health.
In the training session a few days ago, the PSG superstar practiced and left the field. In addition, some stars such as Marcelo, Casemiro, Roberto Firmino only gathered last Wednesday. In addition, during the recent training period, 2 players Renato Augusto and Douglas Costa suffered minor injuries.
Similarly, coach Zlatko Dalic has just welcomed the presence of Dejan lovren, Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic - 3 players in the Real Madrid and Liverpool squads participating in the recent match in Kiev.
With 2 European representatives in the same group, Brazil chose all opponents from the old peninsula to play a friendly match. Against Croatia, they beat Russia 3-0, Germany 1-0 without Neymar, all away. In the past 19 matches, Selecao won 15, drew 3 and lost only 1, scoring an average of 2.2 goals/match. To ensure the No. 1 superstar has the best physical condition for the World Cup, Coach Tite will likely put his beloved student on the bench.
In history, Croatia have only met Brazil 3 times and have not won any (2 losses, 1 draw). But the European representative is not too inferior to Brazil tonight thanks to the possession of bright stars Modric and Mateo Kovacic. Not to mention Ivan Rakitic (Barca), Perisic ( Inter Milan), Mandzukic (Juventus),...
Selecao under Tite is strong in both attack (scoring 42 goals) and defense (scoring 5 times) after 19 matches. That is a huge challenge for Croatia's defense. However, in return, the European representative considers this a test to be ready for the match against Argentina in Group D.
