Croatia v Brazil Prediction, Lineups, Results & Betting Tips

Croatia vs Brazil Stats

• Across Brazil’s four World Cup matches, opposing right-sided defenders have made a combined 20 tackles
• Josip Juranovic has made at least one tackle in each game so far this tournament and tends to play the full game
• Opposition tackle counts tend to have gone above the average when taking on the Selecao

Croatia vs Brazil Prediction: 

Betting Tip: Josip Juranovic 3+ tackles/5+ tackles

I’m going to be spreading 2.5 points across two picks for this quarter-final clash between Croatia and Brazil. For me, the value lies in the prop markets and I like the look of Croatia and Celtic right-back Josip Juranovic to successfully cover some tackle lines.

The Vatreni made hard work of it against Japan in the previous round but were able to secure victory by way of a penalty shootout and they have been rewarded with a tie against the samba stars of Brazil. They’ll provide a stern test to Tite’s men and will inevitably show a much more organised defence than South Korea were able to. 

Zlatko Dalić’s side have the experience in games of this magnitude and they’ll know that making themselves impenetrable is half the battle. Being first to as many loose balls as possible and applying pressure is a must and considering Brazil opponents have average almost 19 tackles per game, a disciplined approach can be expected.

Josip Juranovic will likely be tasked with containing Vinicius Junior, no easy feat, and i think he can join other right backs who’ve faced him at this tournament by registering a high tackle count. All four of Brazil’s opponent right-backs have registered at least three tackles in total and that will be the first play for a couple of points at 5/6.

However, I'll have a smaller play at a higher price as well. We’re at the stage of the tournament where things become much tighter and the disparity in quality gets much closer. It makes matches very tense and we should see plenty of tackles either out of desperation or nervousness. 

Kim Moon-Hwan for South Korea and Nikola Milenkovic for Serbia both managed at least five tackles each (13 tackles combined) against Brazil. Meanwhile, Silvan Widmer and Fabian Frei for Switzerland (the latter coming on as a substitute) managed to register four.

The 9/2 available for Juranovic to manage at least five in total makes appeal considering a solid backline is paramount for Croatia's success and I’ll play it for half a point.

Croatia vs Brazil Results

Croatia vs Brazil Team News 

Croatia:

• Borna Sosa was not part of the matchday squad in the win over Japan, due to having a virus, but he should be in contention to return for a start in this game
• Josip Stanisic also missed the Japan game, owing to a muscular injury, and so will have to be assessed ahead of this game

Brazil:

• Alex Sandro missed both the game against Cameroon and the game against South Korea owing to a hip injury and so will have to be assessed before this game

Croatia vs Brazil Lineups

Predicted lineups are brought to you by WhoScored.com.

Croatia 

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

Brazil

Alisson; Militao, Marquinhos, Silva, Danilo; Paqueta, Casemiro; Raphinha, Neymar, Vinicius Junior; Richarlison 

Croatia vs Brazil Score Prediction:

Croatia 1-1 Brazil