Brazil aim to
ROSTOV-ON-DON: Brazil has spent four years trying to atone for its last World Cup match, the calamitous 7-1 defeat as hosts by Germany. Popular coach Tite purged players, eased dependence on Neymar, and rebuilt a team that concedes few goals and blazed through qualification.
Those changes will be tested Sunday, when the Selecao start their campaign for a sixth World Cup title at the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-don against Switzerland.
Few embody Brazil’s rediscovered spirit more than Gabriel Jesus, the 21-year-old Manchester City striker: Four years ago he was photographed as a barefoot teenager painting the streets of his Sao Paulo neighborhood. Fast-forward to Russia and he’s a valued team resource, the top scorer in qualification with seven goals. “I don’t think of that (time) as suffering, but being Brazilian being able to change,” he said. “For anyone, striving for your goal is not suffering. It’s a demonstration of courage. That’s where our pride comes from.”
Restoring much of its pride, Brazil was the first team to qualify for this World Cup, 17 games unbeaten and with a 3-0 victory over Argentina at the stadium where they’d sustained the infamous semifinal loss to Germany. Making minor changes in friendlies, Tite appears to have settled on a core of starting players that trounced Austria 3-0 last week - with Neymar, Coutinho, Casemiro, Paulinho, and Willian forming a semi-circle around Gabriel Jesus as the center forward, in a 4-3-3 formation. Danilo, Thiago Silva, Miranda, and Marcelo form the defense in front of goalkeeper Alisson.
Switzerland, Gabriel Jesus admits, will be hard to rattle. The Swiss would be taken lightly at their opponents’ peril.
Coach Vladimir Petkovic’s group of polyglot players has taken Switzerland to its fourth consecutive World Cup with ambitions to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in 64 years.
At his fourth World Cup, 33-year-old midfielder Valon Behrami says the Swiss can’t wait to take on Brazil. They haven’t met in a World Cup since 1950 and drew 2-2. Behrami acknowledged that his team’s defense is Neymar-focused while worrying about committing too many players to try and stop him.
“Sure, we hope that he has a bad day and we have a good day,” he said. “One player alone cannot stop him, because he is so fast and technically strong. We have to face him as a team.”