Croatia will look forward to cementing their reputation as
the one side that cannot be written off in the knockouts as they take on world
number one and five-time World Cup winners Brazil in the first quarter final of
the FIFA World Cup 2022 on Friday.

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Team Brazil has been religiously
praying for the health of their greatest player of all time, Pele, who has been reportedly in bad health. They will look
forward to producing a dominant performance that could bring them just two steps
away from a record sixth World Cup hurrah.

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Brazil vs Croatia: Head-to-head

* Brazil and Croatia have faced each other four
times in the past and Brazil has won thrice.

* They first met at an International friendly in
2005 that ended in a 1-1 tie.

* Brazil have beaten Croatia in their last
encounter, which was also a friendly.

* Brazil lead the World Cup head-to-head 2-0,
having won 1-0 in the 2006 World Cup in Germany and the 3-1 in the 2014 edition
of the cup at home.

* Brazil would look forward to beating a European
side after the World Cup round of 16 for the first time since 2002 when they
beat Germany in the final.

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Brazil vs Croatia: Stats 

* As per the FIFA rankings updated on October 6,
Brazil are the world number one while Croatia stand at a modest 12th
position in the list.

* Brazil have scored seven goals in the four
encounters against Croatia, as opposed to two by the European side.

* A win for Croatia would make it the first side
after the Netherlands in 2010-14 to make it to two straight semi-finals in the
World Cup.

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Brazil vs Croatia: Predicted lineups

Brazil’s probable 11: Brazil is expected to
retain the bulk of the playing 11 from its 4-1 drubbing of Korea earlier in the
week.

Silva(c), Alisson;
Militao, Marquinhos, Sandro; Casemiro, Paqueta; Raphinha, Neymar, Vinicius;
Richarlison

Croatia
probable 11: Modric (c), Livakovic;
Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Barisic; Brozovic, Kovacic; Kramaric, Livaja,
Perisic

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Brazil vs Croatia: Formations

Brazil’s expected formation: 4-3-3

Croatia’s expected formation: 4-3-3