President Of The 2022 World Cup, Brazil Vs Serbia: Believe In Vlahovic Et Al Seeing The Success Of Arabs And Japan

Serbian national team (Twitter @FSSrbije)

JAKARTA - Brazil is again in the spotlight of this grand football tournament because it is a strong favorite of world champions and at the same time favorites to win the first match of Group G of the 2022 World Cup against Serbia, Friday morning tomorrow.

Brazil is eyeing its sixth world title which can further increase its record. They entered the arena with high enthusiasm, thanks in part to the squad that was delegated to young talents, 16 of whom were debutants of the World Cup.

Despite their debut, they are young players who are the mainstay of their club, the average giant ruler of European football, including Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo, Raphinha, Eder Militao, Bruno Guimaraes and Antony.

With such a brilliant young player-player partner, Neymar, who is in his best form, is even more optimistic that this time he can improve his career with a World Cup trophy.

Brazil has won 37 out of 50 matches since being defeated by Belgium in the 2018 World Cup quarter-finals in Russia.

During that period, Brazil lost one official game when they gave up 0-1 to the Argentine eternal rivals in the 2021 Copa America final.

They conceded 19 goals before reaching the Qatar World Cup, but even greater they made 33 clean sheets from their last 50 matches.

Tite's background, which tends to pay attention to defense, raises speculation that he will deploy a solid defense team, especially Serbia, as is common. This scenario makes Vinicius Jr doubtful as a starter.

The 22-year-old striker scored Real Madrid's winning goal in the Champions League final against Liverpool and finished eighth in the number of Ballon d'Or votes last month. This fact controlled him to the top level in his fifth season with Real Madrid.

However, the place as a starter is not guaranteed to be true, because there are Neymar, Richarlison and Raphinha who may have been chosen by Tite. But it's hard to ignore Vinicius Jr.

Tite is also still unclear how he will mix up his midfield, whether to pair a duet for Manchester United, Fred and Casemiro, or choose another option.

Trabalho e alegria! 💪🤩Primeiro dia de treino no Qatar! ✅😁Vamos, Brasil! 🇧🇷💛📷: Lucas Figueiredo / CBF pic.twitter.com/RlbjFU1vhp

— CBF Futebol (@CBF_Futebol) November 20, 2022

This shows that there is pressure on Tite which is increasingly being made vigilant, considering that the World Cup in Qatar has claimed the lives of two world football giants. First, Argentina, which was contributed by Saudi Arabia 1-2. Second, Germany, who surrendered to Japan also with 1-2.

But Tite admits he is not depressed. "Press is natural. Brazil has the greatest history in football and with such a legacy, there will always be pressure," Tite said as quoted by Reuters.

Bukan Brasil saja yang tertekan. Serbia pun begitu. Tetapi sukses Arab Saudi dan Jepang, membuat mereka turut tak ada yang tak bisa dikalahkan oleh mereka.

Moreover, Serbia entered this tournament with charming provisions because they automatically qualified to represent Group A in the European zone after silencing Portugal 2-1 in their last World Cup qualifying match.

Overall, Serbia won six games and drew twice. And this saw Serbia force Portugal through the playoffs before being able to bring tickets to the 2022 World Cup finals.

With such a smooth journey it is only natural that Serbia is shrouded in high confidence, moreover they are also promoted to the League A Nations League after a 2-0 win over Norway, which was reinforced by bomber Erling Haaland, thanks to two goals scored by Dusan Vlahovic and Aleksandar Mitrovic.

Predictions of the first eleven players

Serbia (3-4-1-2): Vanja Milinkovic-Savic; Nikola Milenkovic, Stefan Mitrovic, Strahinja Pavlovic; Andrija Zivkovic, Nemanja Gudelj, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Filip Kostic; Dusan Tadic; Dusan Vlahovic, Luka Jovic

Brazil (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Alex Sandro; Casemiro, Lucas Paqueta; Raphinha, Neymar, Vinicius Junior; Richarlison

Statistics of both teams:

Prior to this, Brazil and Serbia had met once in the World Cup, to be precise in the 2018 World Cup group stage. The South American team won 2-0 from two goals made by Paulinho and Thiago Silva. In another meeting Brazil also won 1-0 in a friendly match in 2014.

Brazil has won the World Cup five times and in this edition it has returned to being the favorite champion.

Brazil has always appeared in the finals since 1930 but since their last 2002 champions have never reached the finals.

Neymar was Brazil's top scorer during South American zone World Cup qualifiers with eight goals. At that time they escaped without a single loss.

Aleksandar Mitrovic, Serbia's all-time leading goalscorer with 50 goals, also scored eight goals in World Cup qualifiers but may be sidelined due to injury in this opener.

Serbia are unbeaten during their 2022 World Cup qualifiers by topping the group after Mitrovic netted a winner over Portugal who confirmed an automatic ticket to Qatar.

Serbia has not gone through the group stage since divorcing Montenegro in 2006.