Brazil
FIFA World Ranking: 2
Qualifying Average Goals Per Match: 2.28
Qualifying Average Goals Against Per Match: 0.61
Qualifying Top Scorer: Gabriel Jesus (7)
World Cup Best Performance: Winners (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002)
Group E Opponents: Costa Rica, Serbia and Switzerland
The Manager: Tite
One of the most popular Brazilian national managers in some time, Tite has united players and fans alike and Brazil now head into this tournament filled with belief and are many people’s favourites for outright glory. That’s quite some turnaround considering Brazil were looking like they might struggle to even qualify prior to Tite’s appointment. Such was the improvement in form following his arrival that they ended up topping the South American section with ease and qualified with four games to spare.
The Squad:
Rock solid in almost every position. Allison and Ederson are two top class goalkeepers, whilst the three “M”s of Marquinhos, Miranda and Marcelo provide plenty of class, solidity and experience to the back line. It is in defence where Brazil have experienced their only real pre-tournament blow. The pace and big game prowess of the injured Dani Alves will be a miss at the full back position.
Tite goes for solidity in midfield with Casemiro, Paulinho and Augusto providing a solid base from which to launch their attacks. It is in the forward positions where the real magic lies though.
Up front a trio of Philippe Coutinho, Gabriel Jesus and of course Neymar – who is expected to recover on time from his broken foot – is enough to strike fear into the hearts of any defence in the competition.
The fact that players of the quality of Douglas Costa, Willian, Roberto Firmino, Fernandinho and more are unlikely to start illustrates just how strong this Brazilian squad is.
Star Man: Neymar
The world’s most expensive player may not be quite in the same bracket as a Messi or Ronaldo just yet, but it may only be a matter of time as the fleet-footed forwards game continues to mature. Having suffered heartbreak – or more accurately back-break – when carrying the hopes of a nation at the last World Cup, Neymar will be keen to make his presence felt on the biggest stage of all this time around. Simply sensational at times, the darling of Brazil will be well rested having spent the last few months recovering from a broken foot.
Outlook:
Officially the second best team in the world - at least according to the FIFA rankings - Brazil beat the world number 1 Germany in a recent friendly - going some way to further expel the demons of that 7-1 annihilation at the Maracana - and will be going all out to show they are the class act in this years competition. Stiffer tasks will no doubt lie ahead, but with the incentive that winning this group will likely mean they can’t meet Germany until the final, we expect Brazil to run right away with this section.
Group E Prediction: http://fastgoal.com/forum/index.php?topic=2471.0