Brazil vs Croatia: Where the battle will be won

Education City Stadium, 8.30pm

Midfield battle to decide outcome

Ageing Croats can’t afford to let Neymar & Co have a free run

Average age: Croatia: 28.9; Brazil: 28

Average height: Croatia: 5’98”; Brazil: 5’98”

Likely starting 11

Croatia: 4-3-3

Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Kramaric, Petkovic; Kovacic

Brazil: 4-1-2-3

Becker; Sandro, Marquinhos, Silva, Danilo; Casemiro; Neymar, Paqueta; Raphinha, Richarlison, Vinicius

Defining area: Midfield

The quality of players in the middle of the park for this tie is incredible. Croatia have Modric, Brozovic and Kovacic – the trio central to everything they do on the field. Brazil, meanwhile, boast the likes of Neymar, Pacqueta and Casemiro. But here’s where the similarities end.

While Brazil’s midfield – in fact, their attackers overall – are young and pacy, Croatia’s ageing midfield comes into this match on the back of a tiring Round-of-16 encounter that went to penalties. While Modric, Brozovic and Kovacic control all play, they are also prone to leave vast spaces in the middle, which Brazil could easily exploit.

Brazil, because of their sheer quality, are also set to create more chances. So, it really comes down to whether the experienced Croatian midfield can keep a tight shape and smother the Brazilian machine so as to stop them from playing free-flowing football. On the other hand, if Brazil manage to isolate Croatia’s midfield, that’ll be battle half-won for them.

Key battle: Brozovic vs Neymar

Brozovic can run. Against Japan in the Round of 16, he covered a distance of roughly 16.70km, setting a record for the most distance run in a World Cup match (breaking his own previous record of 16.33km in the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup against England).

While it’ll depend on Croatian full-backs to contain Vinicius and Raphinha, most of their build-up play is orchestrated by Neymar. On paper, the duty to stop Neymar lies with centre-back Dejan Lovren. But the Brazilian has outclassed him on each of the three times they’ve faced off. So, the responsibility falls on Brozovic – the defensive midfielder who will shield the four-man back line – to keep a tight leash on Neymar and stop him from combining with Richarlison, which has been Brazil’s preferred route to attack.

If Brozovic fails to contain Neymar, it’s hard to see how Croatia will be able to stop Brazil.