Brazil, Germany face high expectations
MOSCOW — Brazil’s quest for World Cup redemption begins Sunday. So does Germany’s title defense.
The nations are forever linked by Germany’s 7-1 humiliation of host Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semifinals. This year’s Brazil squad is stacked with talented strikers as usual, while top-ranked Germany is a threat to become the first repeat winner since Brazil went back-toback in 1958 and 1962.
Brazil coach Tite has rebuilt his team since 2014 to ease the burden on star forward Neymar. Gabriel Jesus, the 21-year-old Manchester City striker, will make his World Cup debut after leading the team with seven goals in qualifying.
Tite appears to have settled on a starting lineup that includes Neymar, Coutinho, Casemiro, Paulino and Willian forming a semicircle around Gabriel Jesus as the center forward. The defenders in front of goalkeeper Alisson are Danilo, Thiago Silva, Miranda and Marcelo. Brazil sported a tight defense as it became the first team to qualify for this year’s tournament.
Brazil faces a tricky initial opponent in Switzerland, which is playing in its fourth consecutive World Cup and has ambitions of reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in 64 years. Switzerland took finalist Argentina to extra time in the round of 16 four years ago.
The Swiss are sixth in the FIFA world rankings, four places behind Brazil, and they won nine of their 10 qualifying matches. Coach Vladimir Petkovic favors a midfieldheavy lineup, with Haris Severovic as the lone striker.
Brazil and Switzerland meet in their Group E match at 2 p.m. EDT in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia.
The day begins in Samara, about 650 miles east of Moscow, with the other teams in the deep Group E. Serbia is the lowest-ranked team in the group at No. 34, and Costa Rica is 23rd. This year’s Ticos won’t sneak up on anybody. After all, they are unbeaten in their last five World Cup matches. Costa Rica made a surprising run to the quarterfinals in 2014, and then played to a scoreless draw against the Netherlands before the Dutch advanced on penalties. Because the Ticos didn’t lose in Brazil, they can tie the CONCACAF record for a World Cup unbeaten streak with a win or draw against Serbia.
Germany launches its title defense in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium against Mexico and its boisterous, sombrero-wearing fans, who’ve been highly visible in the Russian capital. The Germans breezed through qualifying but endured a recent slump in friendly matches, with draws against England, France and Spain and a loss to Brazil that ended a 22-game unbeaten run. Mexico has lost in the round of 16 in six straight World Cups, and in a bid to end that streak it added a mental coach to its staff: Imanol Ibarrondo, a former player with Spanish club Rayo Vallecano. His 2016 hiring hasn’t seemed to affect the team’s results and has been heavily scrutinized by Mexican media.