FIFA WORLD CUP 2018

FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 – Brazil vs Switzerland PREVIEW



The world cup favourites are finally coming into action. Nothing more exciting than Brazil at the world cup, they bring flair, skill, goals and everything else to football. They will face a tough Swiss side in the opener. The Swiss side are well organised, hard to score against, hard working and have been a good European side overall over the past few years. Swiss nearly knocked out Argentina 4 years ago, which just shows that they’re no pushover. Brazil are the heavy favourites, but they’ll have to be engaged in this game and not allow Switzerland to get comfortable.

BRAZIL

As mentioned already, Brazil are the world cup favourites and are looking to add the record 6th world cup to their trophy cabinet. Brazil are basically a flawless team, they have depth in almost every position, they have some of the best players in the world which include Neymar, Coutinho, Marcelo etc. They have one of the best attacks, a very solid midfield with 3 powerful midfielders in there to pick from. They can go and switch between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 regarding the opponent they face. They have sorted their striker position too with the growth of Jesus and Firmino who they can switch around depending on who plays better. Brazil’s defence is also really good, they have depth at LB and CB with Marcelo Luis, Marquinhos, Silva, Miranda. However if there is a weakness in the Brazil side it’s RB. Dani Alves is injured and cant play therefore they have Danilo as 1st choice RB who has struggled over the recent years at club level and is definitely their least reliable player. However if Danilo does struggle, Marquinhos could fill in and play RB, Fagner is their other RB. Overall, Brazil have the best team and one of the most exciting teams to watch, they’re solid up front, in midfield and at the back, they even have multiple good goalkeepers. Brazil should put on a show for sure.

Brazil have had one of the most important world cup qualifying campaigns in general. They picked up and impressive 12W 5D 1L record in the south American qualifiers and that is crazy good knowing how tough that continent is. Brazil topped the group by 10 points and were 15 points clear of elimination places which is just pure dominance. Brazil scored the most goals with 41 too and they were spread out by everyone, led by Jesus with 7 and Neymar with 6. Brazil had an incredible run of 9 straight wins at one point during the qualifiers and their most impressive wins include 3-0 vs Argentina, 1-4 vs Uruguay away from home, 3-0 vs Chile. They were really scoring goals for fun and winning games in style which is what we expect to happen at the world cup.

Brazil have continued their great form ever since the qualifiers. They played two games right before the world cup and were dominant. They beat a really good Croatian side 2-0 and beat an Austria team away from 0-3. The same Austrian team that beat Germany. Brazil were solid in every position, Neymar looked like he didn’t skip a beat. Brazil barely allowed any opportunities for both of these teams too which proves that they’re solid at the back too. It was just a great preparation to the world cup for Brazil and they are going into it in great form.

SWITZERLAND

A side who are expected to advance out of the group stages, but no further. Switzerland have always been tough, well organised side who could cause every team problems. Swiss have a solid back line and midfield, but their attacking options are slightly limited as they don’t have too many good strikers as Embolo and Sefeovic are average. Their star man Shaqiri has gone under the radar over the year and did not have a great season which isn’t a good sign for Switzerland, however for national team, Shaqiri does tend to show up which is a good thing for the Swiss. Switzerland should be able to get out of the group in general because they do have good major tournament experience and their direct rivals for the 2nd place Serbia don’t, while Costa Rica are unlikely to pull off any surprised again. I don’t expect them to start off well. Their lack of goals could be problematic, but their defensive shape should be able to keep them away from being hammered By Brazil and then against Serbia and Costa Rica they should be fine. Don’t expect many goals in Swiss games.

Swiss had to work their way to get to the world cup. Although in their qualifying group they had 9W 0D 1L, winning the first 9, they still managed to finish 2nd because Portugal equalled that record but beat them out on goal difference. The group was easy for Swiss and Portugal so it was really just them battling it out and eventually Switzerland finished 2nd. Switzerland faced Northern Ireland in the playoffs and by no means was it easy. They won the 1st leg away from home 0-1 from a controversial penalty, but they couldn’t put them away early at home eventually drawing 0-0. It was definitely a tough tie and Northern Ireland pushed Switzerland till the end, but eventually Swiss held them off with their organised defending.

Switzerland looked good in preparation friendlies. They picked up an impressive away draw against one of the best nations in Spain drawing 1-1 and then beat Japan 2-0. Swiss once again looked solid at the back and actually converted their chances which should give them a huge confidence boost. That result against Spain was especially impressive because they’re pretty much the level the Brazil at and knowing that Switzerland got a result there, they will for sure have confidence going into the opener at the world cup.

What to Expect From The Game

It should be an interesting game. Brazil will most likely be on the front foot trying to break down the organised Switzerland defence. Wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Swiss park the bus and try to hold Brazil out. It will be very tough for Switzerland to get forward because Brazil have a very strong midfield and could put all 3 of Casemiro, Paulinho and Fernandinho in there and then they have two top class CB’s too. For Switzerland to get something they’re going to have to work extremely hard because Brazil are insanely talented. We’ll most likely see a Brazil win because they’re form is just incredible right now. It will be near impossible for Switzerland to hold them out and it will be very hard to score. It should be a nice, comfortable 2-0 win for Brazil and Neymar will shine.

ODDS – Decimal (WilliamHill)

Brazil Win – 1.40

Draw – 4.50

Switzerland Win – 8.00

KICK OFF – 17th June 2018 – 7pm UK Time