History stands on the side of "Samba" against Croatia

Neymar and Modric .. a struggle for the best and the round of 4 card

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The Brazil national team is looking forward to doing a "new dance" in its campaign to restore the FIFA World Cup title, which has been absent from its coffers for 20 years, when it faces the Croatian national team, which is aspiring to achieve a new achievement led by its most prominent star and playmaker Luka Modric, when they meet today, at the city stadium. Education in the quarter-finals of the Qatar World Cup 2022.

The Brazilian national team, the only one to have participated in all 22 World Cups, hopes to reach the semi-finals for the 12th time in its history in the tournament, which holds the record for the number of times won with five titles.

The dialogue will be strong between two first-class players, Modric, and the “samba” star, Neymar, who desperately wants to prove his worth today, after the injury has disturbed his participation in the tournament so far, despite his distinguished return to the meeting with Korea and his leadership of his country to a great victory.

Since winning its last title in the World Cup in the 2002 edition in South Korea and Japan, Brazil has only been able to pass the quarter-finals once, when it hosted the competition on its soil in 2014. And after he gave a wobbly performance during his career in the group stage, Brazil made his strongest performance in the current version, When he swept the South Korean 4/1 in the round of 16, to send a strongly worded message to his rivals, during which he confirmed his strong will to stand again on the podium at the end.

After recovering from the ankle injury he suffered in Brazil's opening match in the current World Cup against Serbia and his participation in the confrontation with South Korea, Neymar seeks to lead the samba dancers team towards achieving a new victory in the World Cup.

Neymar scored a penalty kick against South Korea, raising his tally to 76 international goals, and he needs to score a single goal to equal the number of Brazilian football icon Pele, the historic scorer for the Brazilian national team.

And with his goal in South Korea, who carried the number 7 in 12 matches he played with the team during his career in the World Cup that began in the 2014 edition, Neymar became the third player to score in at least three World Cups with Brazil, behind Pele and the phenomenal Ronaldo.

Brazil has an "arsenal" of stars who are able to manipulate Croatia's defense, such as Vinicius, Richarlison and others.

For his part, the Croatian national team, the runner-up of the last World Cup in Russia, aspires to qualify for the Golden Square for the third time in its history, and the second in a row, despite the difficulty of the task that awaits it.

Croatia has one of the best goalkeepers in the current edition, Levakovic, the hero of the Japan match when he saved three penalty kicks, and contributed to his country's qualification to the quarter-finals, along with fast players, such as Perisic, Karamic and others.

The task of coach Zlatko Dalic will be difficult to stop the Brazilian offensive tide today, and he called on his players, in press statements before the match, to deal intelligently with the match in order to overcome the obstacle of Brazil.

Croatia does not have a good history with Brazil, as it lost 1-0 to it in the group stage in the 2006 World Cup, then was defeated 3-1 in the same round in the 2014 World Cup, as well as losing twice in a friendly match.

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■ Brazil did not lose in four previous matches against Croatia, including twice in the World Cup, and two friendlies.

■ Croatia lost 4 matches against the Latin teams, the exception being the 3-0 victory over Argentina in 2018.

■ It was remarkable that seven of the eight times in which Croatia reached the elimination rounds in the World Cup and the European Cup ended in overtime.

■ Brazil hopes to reach the semi-finals for the 12th time in its history, and to equal the record of Germany.

While Croatia reached the round of 4 only twice, in 1998 and 2018.

To view an electronic supplement .. the World Cup teams,

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