With the World Cup now in full swing, Thursday will see five time winners Brazil to start their campaign in which they find themselves favourites.
Brazil may be the most successful team in the history of the World Cup but they haven’t won the competition in 20 years now, so by the math they are probably due one.
However, Brazil will have to be mindful after seeing what happened to Argentina in their opening game against Saudi Arabia and in Serbia they will face a side that many are tipping as potential dark horses.
Serbia boast arguably their strongest side ever, with players such as Lazio midfielder Serge Milinkovic-Savic and Juventus forward Susan Vlahovic, a combination which could threaten even the strongest sides. Along with Filip Kostic and Dusan Tadic who are both also playing at the pinnacle of European football, Serbia are dangerous.
Brazil will no doubt go into the tie full of confidence as they normally do, and why shouldn’t they. A side which is the perfect mix of experience and youth, the ‘old’ heads of Casemiro, Thiago Silva and Neymar mixed with the youthfulness of Bruno Guimaraes, Vinicius Jnr and Gabriel Jesus.
But how will the sides line up?
Brazil are in the privileged position of being injury free and therefore we can expect to see them at their strongest in this fixture. Meanwhile Serbia will be concerned regarding the fitness of Aleksandar Mitrovic who has struggled recently for Fulham with injury and therefore he is unlikely to start, but what an option to have off the bench.
Brazil predicted XI
Alisson; Danilo, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Sandro; Fred, Casemiro, Paqueta; Raphinha, Richarlison, Neymar.
Serbia predicted XI
V. Milinkovic-Savic; Milenkovic, S. Mitrovic, Pavlovic; Zivkovic, Gudelj, Lukic, Kostic; S. Milinkovic-Savic, Vlahovic, Tadic.
Score Prediction | Brazil 2-1 Serbia
Jonathan Maze | GWCFN
