HOST WITH THE MOST
Russians score five in World Cup opener … Brazilians banking on Fab Four in Moscow … Portugal vs. Spain in Friday spotlight.
SOCHI, RUSSIA— Brazil will be experimenting with a new version of the “magic quartet” in Russia.
More than a decade after the five-time world champions arrived for the World Cup in Germany with its prolific foursome of Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo and Adriano, Brazil is set to use a “Fab Four” of Neymar, Willian, Philippe Coutinho and Gabriel Jesus to try to win its first title since 2002.
It will be the first time Brazil brings a prominent attacking foursome like the one that attracted all the headlines 12 years ago.
Brazil coach Tite still hasn’t announced his starting lineup for the opener against Switzerland in Rostov-on-Don on Sunday, but all signs show that he will stick to the quartet that helped the team ease past Austria in its final warm-up match last week.
It was the first time the four players started together under Tite, and the lineup earned nothing but praise after the convincing 3-0 win.
“This formation is a very strong one,” Tite said.
“It gives us a lot of creativity and aggressiveness.”
Tite had said the performance against Austria would likely determine whether he would keep the foursome for the World Cup opener. Neymar, Gabriel Jesus and Coutinho each scored for Brazil in Vienna.
Tite used the Fab Four formation in parts of the team’s prac- tice session on Tuesday.
The quartet is considered Brazil’s ideal lineup but it hadn’t played much together until now for various reasons, including Neymar’s absence since February because of a foot injury. The game against Austria marked his first start since recovering from the injury.
He had come off the bench in the second half of the team’s 2-0 win over Croatia in Liverpool.