Brazil vs Switzerland – World Cup Review

Brazil vs Switzerland – World Cup Review

BRAZIL
Time they say heals all wounds, tell that to the Brazilians. Four years after staging the tournament in 2014 they certainly aren’t fully healed. They went into the tournament four years ago as favorites and were looking really good to win it until they played Germany in that 7-1 disgraceful defeat on home soil.
In 2015 and 2016 the Brazilians received a new set of disappointment as they were knocked out in the group stages of the Copa America Centenario tournaments in both years.

Brazilian manager Tite would be looking to break the jinx in this year’s world cup and also start the campaign on a good note with an opening match against this Swiss side who are the second favorites of the group.
The south Americans come into this tournament with high spirits, with an array of stars and star player Neymar who recently recovered from an injury and found his name on the score sheet as they beat Austria 3 nil to bring their unbeaten tally to 11 games, winning 8 of these fixtures. They qualified for the world cup as leaders of their group.

SWITZERLAND
Switzerland on the other hand aren’t a bad team by any yardstick, giving Portugal a hot pursuit for the first place position on the group. And it had to take a 2-0 defeat from the Euro 2016 champions, Portugal to see them finish as runners up.
Their last six matches have seen them win four and draw two with Japan who they beat two nil being their most recent victim. This squad looks very average and would be squaring up against some of the best players in the world.

KEY MAN
With Neymar most definitely being the star man to watch focus would be on him and this might leave the Swiss defense vulnerable to threat from other threats like Phillipe Coutinho, Douglas costa, Willian and Gabriel Jesus, he is clearly the obvious threat.
The 26 year old with 55goals in 85 appearances for his country still has age on his side, he is already 3rd joint top scorer for Brazil alongside legends like Pele, Ronaldo and Romario. Having scored in every game during the friendlies, it would be of very good value to place a bet on him for the anytime goal scorer option.

Fulltime results as long as this game is concerned should logically swing in the favor of the Brazilians with goals in abundance. Records show that 11 of Brazils 18 games during the qualifiers had at least three goals scored and Brazil scoring 41 goals of the lot.

Switzerland showed their weakness in defense conceding against Hungary, Albania, Andorra and Portugal. These records makes an over 2.5 goals bet pick a very good selection with value.

HEAD TO HEAD
Brazil and Switzerland have met three times with each of them winning one, drawing one and losing the other. A friendly in 2013 was the most recent meeting. That encounter ended 1-0 in favor of Switzerland. These sides have met just once at the world cup and the game ended in a 2-2 draw.

PREDICTED LINEUP
BRAZIL: Alisson, Danilo, Silva, Miranda, Marcelo, Casemiro, Paulinho, Coutinho, Willian, Neymar, G. Jesus
SWITZERLAND: Sommer, Lichsteiner, Schar, Akanji, Rodriguez, Xhaka, Behrami, Shaqiri, Dzemaili, Embolo, Seferovic
PICK: over 2.5 at 1.80 odds.