Brazil vs Croatia: Brazil, Croatia seeking to vanquish respective hoodoos
Brazil and Croatia will be hoping to overcome their respective hoodoos when the two sides square off in the quarter-finals on Friday. The clash between the five-time World Cup winners and the 2018 World Cup finalists will kick off the highly anticipated four games that comprise this year’s quarter-finals, and it will also be an interesting reunion of sorts as the two sides met back in 2014, during the group stages. That match ended as a 3-1 win for the South American giants, with Neymar netting a brace, and now, eight years later, the two sides will renew acquaintances, this time in a winners-takes-all tie.
Tite’s side come into this match having cruised to a 4-1 win over South Korea, and were it not from some profligacy in front of goal, the Seleção certainly would have scored more in a lopsided tie. It was the perfect tonic for Brazil’s fans after a largely rotated squad lost 1-0 to Cameroon on matchday three; while the Seleção had already qualified, it marked the first time the South American titans had lost to African opposition. Still, any unease fans felt was quickly swept aside following their win, which featured star man Neymar back in the starting XI and was a thoroughly dominant performance from start to finish.
Brazil are hoping to win what would be their sixth World Cup and first since 2002, but will need to overcome a hoodoo that has plagued them in the knockout rounds. Indeed, since winning 2-0 against Germany 20 years ago, the Seleção have lost all four of their last knockout rounds against European teams. That includes falling to France (in 2006), Netherlands (2010), Germany (2014), and Belgium (2018). Arguably, the loss to Germany will be the most painful, as back in 2014, when serving as hosts, Brazil were humiliated 7-1 in the semi-finals by a rampaging German side that would go on to win the final. Four years ago, they were surprisingly beaten by Belgium in the quarter-finals, and now, they will naturally look to avoid the same result against Croatia.
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Croatia, for their part, have been doing their utmost best to prove that their impressive run to the 2018 final wasn’t just a fluke. Despite a slow start as they drew Morocco 0-0, Zlatko Dalic’s side have steadily grown in confidence as the competition went on. They earned a resounding 4-1 victory against Canada before holding Belgium to a scoreless stalemate, and showed their tactical superiority and mental fortitude by defeating Japan on spot kicks after a grueling 120 minutes of action.
Spot kicks and Croatia have become a common theme, as the Vatreni needed to go through two rounds of penalties four years ago to defeat Denmark, and Russia, who surprisingly made it to the quarter-finals as hosts. Thus, no one will be betting against Dalic’s side should it come down to another penalty battle, albeit it’s safe to say that they will be hoping to avoid a similar outcome on Friday.
Just as Brazil have a European hoodoo, so do Croatia. In their case, they have won just one of their last five meetings with South American sides, with that being a stunning 3-0 win over Argentina four years ago. They never beaten Brazil, with one draw and three losses from their four meetings, but as we have seen at this year’s World Cup, stats and prior history don’t always decide a match.
On Friday, these two teams will renew acquaintances, and one of them will finally put a end to their frustrating hoodoo. Will it be five-time champions Brazil, the only team to have appeared at every single World Cup since 1930? Or will Croatia book their spot in the semi-finals as the Vatreni continue to seek to make a major statement?
