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Horse Racing Croatia vs Brazil Bet Builder Tips: 2.10 Builder Backing Brazil to Reach Semis
Croatia vs Brazil Bet Builder Tips: Friday, December, 9th
Croatia and Brazil meet in the first Quarter-Final clash on Friday afternoon, here at bettingexpert News we have put together a stat-based bet builder for the game in Al Rayyan.
In this article:
Croatia vs Brazil Preview
World Cup Quarter-Final, Friday, December 9th, 15:00 (UK)
Competition favourites, Brazil, made light work of their round-of-16 opponents, South Korea on Monday night. They blitzed through Paulo Bento’s side and led 4-0 at the break. The Samba Boys switched things up in the second half of a game that was dead and buried with plenty of time to spare. Their attentions were already on this one that sees them heavily favourites once more.
Croatia had to work extremely hard to be here. Japan broke the deadlock on the stroke of halftime in their last 16 matchup but a brilliant header from Ivan Perisic levelled the scoring. The game had to be settled by a penalty shootout, Dominik Livakovic was the nation’s hero as he saved three spot kicks from four which saw his side progress.
Opponents don’t get tougher than this for Zlatko Dalic and his men. Brazil have the strongest squad in the competition and pose a massive threat in attack. They’ll start fast and won’t allow Croatia to have any time on the ball whatsoever. Croatia are priced at 5.60 to reach the next round whilst Neymar and co are best priced at 1.17.
Richarlison leads the way in the goals department for the South Americans. He’s bagged three times in Qatar with four of his teammates all scoring one a piece. Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramaric has found the back of the net twice so far, Perisic, Livaja and Majer have all scored once for Croatia.
Croatia vs Brazil Stats & Facts
- Brazil’s Cafu is the only player to appear in three consecutive World Cup finals (1994, 1998 & 2002)
- Croatia have won all three of their World Cup penalty shootouts.
- Ivan Perisic is one goal away from being his nations leading scorer at a World Cup, he’s joint level with Davor Suker on six.
- Neymar scored a brace when these sides met in Brazil 2014, if he repeats that he’ll become Brazil’s all time top scorer.
Croatia vs Brazil Bet Builder
In the four games Brazil have played in the tournament, they have been awarded exactly eight goal kicks in the opening 45 minutes on each occasion. Tite will be expected to start with an unchanged lineup that blew away the side from South Korea and will come out the blocks quickly at the Education City Stadium.
Croatia have seen this line land against them in three games from four this tournament. Morocco and Belgium both had seven free kicks. Canada had six whilst Japan had three within the first half of their matches.
Heading into the second half, I’m backing Alisson to have at least two goal kicks. This angle has banked in three games from four so far against Brazil. Switzerland forced them to just one when they met in the second round of matches in the group stage.
At some point, I’d expect Croatia to find themselves needing a goal which will force them further up the field to cause some pressure on the opposition goal. In all four matches they have participated in, their opponents have taken at least two goal kicks in the second half.
Although the price is short, I can’t see Croatia overcoming the competition favourites. Brazil will have fresher legs between the two sides after Croatia’s gruelling affair with Japan. Combing them to qualify with the previous two selections turns this into an odds-against play that certainly has every chance of cashing on the day.
- Over 5.5 First Half Brazil Free Kicks
- Over 1.5 Second Half Brazil Goal Kicks
- Brazil To Qualify
Bet Builder odds: 2.10
Odds via bet365 as at 15:00 December 7th 2022. Odds may now differ.
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