Qatar 2022 World Cup Preview: Brazil To Hassle Korea For A Last 8 Spot
Brazil are set to recover from a shock defeat to Cameroon as they take on a South Korea basking with confidence - in the round of 16 of the World Cup (8 p.m.) at the
974 - Ras Abu Aboud stadium.
There is some big news for the Seleçao as they expect to welcome their megastar, Neymar Junior.
Hit on his ankle in the first game against Serbia, Brazil's number 10 will make a comeback in Tite's team.
"Neymar is also able to withstand a little pain when he plays, he has already done that", explained Tite pre match.
If Brazil win at Doha’s Stadium 974 they will advance to a quarter-final against Japan/Croatia, with a last-four showdown against great rivals Argentina still on the cards.
After having successfully negotiated the first bend of the competition, the Seleção got tricky customers South Korea in the round of 16 showdown.
Possible XI for Brazil
Glove-man Alisson should get back his position from Ederson who played the game against Cameroon. From right to left: Eder Militao, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva and Danilo are expected to start in the backline. In the middle, Tite will certainly trust Casemiro, Lucas Paqueta and Neymar a notch higher than other available options. In attac; Raphinha, Richarlison and Vinicius Junior are expected to start.
South Korea were the second lowest-ranked side to make the knockout but Tottenham Hotspurs forward Son was clear during his pre match interview - that the Brazilians won’t be taking them lightly.
Korea hopes to continuously ride on its good momentum recently triggered by a surprise 2-1 victory against Portugal on the last day.
This has been a World Cup of upsets. Brazil, Belgium, Argentina and France – the world’s four top-ranked sides – have all lost to significantly less-fancied sides in the group stages of this tournament. Four-time winners Germany could not even make it to the knockouts.
Last June, the two teams faced each other and Brazil won by a wide margin of 5-1. Paulo Bento's men will want to erase that setback in their memory.
The probable XI of South Korea to face Brazil:
Seung-gyu Kim – Moon-hwan Kim, Min-jae Kim, Young-gwon Kim, Jin-Su Kim – In-beom Hwang, Woo-young Jung – Hee- chan Hwang, Kang-in Lee, Heung-min Son – Gue-sung Cho.
The South Koreans are the only Asian side to have reached the semi-finals before, when they were co-hosts with Japan in 2002. They will be hoping to shock Brazil on their way towards making history again.
