Croatia v Brazil Tips: Samba Boys turn on the style as their golden boy returns

We are down to the final eight nations at the World Cup and, for all the diversity of the Round of 16, just the big boys remain now - Morocco aside.

The North Africans have performed fantastically and reached their first ever World Cup quarter-final courtesy of a penalty shootout victory over Spain on Tuesday. Now they are in the deep end as the upcoming round is made up of former champions, runners-up and teams who have plenty of pedigree in this competition. 

The first game sees two of them face off at Education City Stadium as five-time winners Brazil clash against 2018 silver medallists Croatia in what is set to be a mix of styles.

Tite’s men breezed into the last eight with a rhythmic 4-1 win over South Korea, while Croatia required penalties against Japan after their third draw in four games in Qatar. Brazil are clear favourites for this tie, but Zlatko Dalić’s men have upset the odds before.

Selecao sliding through the gears

Their defeat to Cameroon with a much-changed team aside, Brazil just seem to be getting better as the tournament progresses in Doha. They kept clean sheets in their opening two games, and were absolutely unplayable in a rampant 36 minutes on Monday night.

Neymar: back from injury to help Brazil in the World Cup knockout stages

Neymar - who is 2.1 to score anytime against Croatia - was back in the goals after returning from injury, while Richarlison was on hand to finish one of the best team goals of the tournament so far.

Luka Modric and his Croatian side have the talent and tactical nous to frustrate the Samba Boys on Friday night. But, after failing to score more than once against Morocco, Belgium and Japan, there won’t be many backing a Croatia win at odds of 10. 

A game of two halves

In Brazil’s two toughest games at this World Cup, they went into the half-time break at 0-0 only to turn things up a notch in the second half. The draw at half-time and Brazil win after 90 minutes is available at 4.2.

Croatia may well have enough to keep Neymar, Richarlison and Vinicius Junior at bay for 45 minutes, but there’s a large chance that the men in yellow will have too much over the whole game.

Neymar, who will be desperate to stamp his mark on this tournament after missing a couple of matches due to injury, has scored three goals against Croatia in two meetings. And, in the four games between the two sides (two in World Cups and two friendlies), the team in the checkered shirt has never won. 

Croatia v Brazil Predictions

Neymar anytime goalscorer @ 2.1
Half-time draw/full-time Brazil @ 4.2