vs. Location: Rostov Arena, Rostov-o-Don Brazil roster: Goleiros: Alisson (Roma) Cássio (Corinthians) Ederson (Manchester City) Laterais: Danilo (Manchester City) Filipe Luís (Atlético de Madrid) Marcelo (Real Madrid) Fagner (Corinthians) Zagueiros: Marquinhos (PSG) Miranda (Inter de Milão) Thiago Silva (PSG) Geromel (Grêmio) Meio-campistas: Casemiro (Real Madrid) Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan) Fernandinho (Manchester City) Paulinho (Barcelona) Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona) Willian (Chelsea) Fred (Shakhtar) Atacantes: Neymar (PSG) Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) Douglas Costa (Juventus) Taison (Shakhtar) After 4 years, 2 managers, 2 Copa América participations without trophies won, 1 Olympic title achieved on home soil, 9 straight wins and 1st place in CONMEBOL's qualification tournament, and 4 wins in 4 friendlies in 2018 (3-0 at Russia; 1-0 at Germany; 2-0 vs. Croatia; 3-0 at Austria), the Brazilian national soccer team returns to the World Cup, in its 21st participation, with the hopes of erasing the ghosts of traumas past with a new manager, a refurbished and improved team, and the hopes of millions. This Brazil has regained the respect of admirers and rivals alike. With its crushing of every opponent in South America in qualifying, and with its solid performances against UEFA teams in friendlies (England is the only team outside South America whom Tite's Brazil faced and failed to defeat), the 2018 World Cup will welcome a side that mixes team chemistry, various offensive options, a solid midfield, and a trustworthy back line. Facing Brazil in its June 17th debut in Russia will be Switzerland, a team with plenty of World Cup history but which is yet to win a major title. Switzerland will be in its 11th World Cup. Until 1966, it was absent only in 1930 and in 1958; it then went on a 20-year "sabbatical" which ended in 1994 and which was revived in 1998 and in 2002. Switzerland then returned in 2006 and has been in every World Cup since. The Swiss finished in second place, behind Portugal, in UEFA's Group B, finishing with the same 27 points that the Portuguese had, but with an inferior goal differential (+28 vs +16). The Swiss won every home game and lost only at Portugal. This result forced Switzerland to face Northern Ireland in a playoff, a contest which saw 1 goal (off a PK) Few will forget how the Swiss, having finished second in Group E in 2014 (after losing 2-5 to the French), pushed Argentina to the 119th minute in the round of 16, before the South Americans scored. The Swiss were seen then as "darkhorses" and this year, along with teams like Belgium and Nigeria, the Swiss present the possibility of giving contenders like Brazil unexpected difficulty. The Swiss are expected to do what Austria and Russia did in recent friendlies, namely to play off a "ferrolho" which could exhaust and frustrate Brazil. But as defensively good as the Swiss are, they scored 23 goals in UEFA's WCQ. Pay attention to the right-wing, where Stoke City's Xherdan Shaqiri operates to prepare the team's main plays. Operating off a 4-2-3-1, Neymar, Firmino, Gabriel Jesus, and their teammates will face Lichtsteiner, Schär, Djourou, Xhaka, Behrami, and Seferovic, who were on Brazilian soil in 2014 and who participated in the 2016 European Championship. The Swiss are unbeaten in 2018. They started off with a 1-0 win at Greece, a 6-0 rout of Panama at home 4 days later, a 1-1 draw at Spain on June 3, and a 2-0 win vs. Japan on June 8. Previous to these games were the playoff matches vs. Northern Ireland, with a goalless draw and the one-goal win that put Switzerland in Russia. This means that Brazil's first opponent is coming off a 6-game unbeaten streak. The following was Switzerland's starting XI vs. Japan: Goleiro: Roman Borki (Borussia Dortmund) Defensores: Stephan Lichtsteiner (Arsenal), Fabian Schär (Deportivo La Coruña), Manuel Akanji (Borussia Dortmund), Ricardo Rodríguez (Milan) Meio-campistas: Valon Behrami (Udinese), Granit Xhaka (Arsenal), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City), Remo Freuler (Atalanta), Breel Embolo (Schalke 04) Centroavante: Mario Gravanovic (Dínamo Zagreb) Técnico: Vladimir Petkovic Brazil head-to-head vs. Switzerland: 6/28/1950: 2-2 (World Cup) 4/11/1956: 1-1 (friendly) 12/21/1980: 2-0 ( friendly) 5/19/1982: 1-1 (friendly) 6/17/1983: 2-1 (friendly) 6/21/1989: 0-1 (friendly) 11/15/2006: 2-1 (friendly) 8/14/2013: 0-1 (friendly) All matches from 1983 to 2013 occurred in Basel. The first match was in São Paulo, the second one in Zurich. 1980 in Cuiabá and 1982 in Recife. The italicized Swiss players from the roster that faced Japan played Brazil in the last match in 2013.
I think we start this out slow. I can’t remember the last time Brazil played a World Cup opener and I was impressed with the performance. The Swiss shocked Spain in a World Cup opener when they were massive favorites and gave Argentina a game last time around. So I expect this to be tough opening game.
I predict a very tense game, first half Brazil will barely create anything. If we dont concede goals on counter attack, we should score at the end of game and steal a victory. After the difficult game, our rivals will swarm the message boards saying Brazil is overrated, wont get far in the tourney, will fall on QFs, etc. The swiss are a good team and opening games always are tense. It would be better if this game was not the first.
I actually liked the opener vs Turkey in 2002 even if it was a 2 x 1 win with a BS PK. I liked the movement in attack and I think we created some good scoring chances. Could have scored a couple of more. But besides that, since I can remember (86), it's always been a meh performance. Even against the weak NK in 2010 we struggled. Having said that ... no mínimo 2 x 0.
Yeah the 2002 opened wasn’t bad. Now that I think about it the 94 opener against Russia wasn’t too bad as well.
Well the good thing historically is that we haven't lost an opening game since WC'1934!! But why do I have this crazy feeling that we will wound up 2nd in the group like in WC'1978?
Trying to decide if I should go to a bar or watch at home. I actually feel like they'll start off slow.
If I went to a bar I'd make sure the TVs/general settings are good to watch the game. Watching in a group is fun because of the atmosphere. The downside is that there are distractions and you end up not watching the game with the same attention as you would at home.
If Tite thinks he is the best candidate then I support that decision. At the same time, I hope he talked to Neymar about controlling his emotions. We don’t need him losing his head like the Copa America. We don’t need him picking up senseless booking.
This will be a great game, I think. It's possible that in Neymar, Coutinho, Willian and Gabriel Jesus, Brazil has the best and most balanced attacking quartet in the world. On the other side in Lichtsteiner, Schar, Akanji and Rodriguez Switzerland may have the best or one of the best defenses at the World Cup. So, at the end, we may get a classic battle between defense and attack and it will be fun (and nervy) to watch Brazil trying to unlock the great Swiss back four. I think Brazil wins 2-0.
It will be rotated. I think I heard that Brazil will have a different captain for every game, so in theory at this World Cup Brazil will have up to 7 (I hope) different captains.
The captaincy is overrated when there is no clear vocal leader on the team. Dani Alves probably would have been the best captain. He is vocal, assertive, has experience, and even though he is a clown at times, he can be serious. The real captain is Tite.
I'm ok with that or Marcelo!! As long as it's not Miranda!! It's something about him I just don't like!!
Wow, I want Marcelo as far away from the captaincy as possible. I think I'm still pissed at him subconsciously for the 7-1 That or watching him every week for Real going hot and cold makes me have a bad impression of him.
@Mengão86 you hear anything about Fagner at rb? Surprised that during our convo you supported me in wanting that.
Interesting that out of the 5 goals we have conceded under Tite, 3 came from set piece crosses (1 own goal), 1 was a PK, and the last one was from open play but also a cross. Set pieces have also been a theme in many of our eliminations, specially the most recent ones. In 82 Italy's third goal came from a corner. 98 I don't even have to mention. 2006 came from a FK cross. 2010 first goal was a short FK then cross on 1st goal and a corner on the 2nd. And in 2014 it all started with a corner.