Today the five-time winner Brazil will face Switzerland at the Rostov Arena. Many football pundits have predicted that Brazil is one of the top contenders to win the FIFA World Cup 2018 title. In the previous World Cup in 2014, Brazil loss 7-1 to Germany, at the time the team was led by Luiz Felipe Scolari.
This year Brazil will look for redemption under the management of new coach Tite, previously led by Dunga. After the arrival of the new coach Brazil have not lost a match, 10 wins and 2 draws in the qualifiers. They do have some of the world's best players including Neymar who has been declared fit to play after undergoing surgery for a fractured foot. But despite having all the force and skill to win, however, we think the match against Switzerland will end in a draw. And here is why.
1. Brazil V. Switzerland Head To Head Record
The last time Brazil and Switzerland faced each other in the World Cup was in 1950 in Brazilian soil. The game ended in 2-2 draw. Other than that, they have faced each other eight times in which Brazil won three times, lost two and three ended in a draw.
2. Switzerland's Strek In the Opening Matches
Switzerland has an unbeaten record in all their opening matches in the World Cup. In their four appearances, they have won two of the matches(Spain in 2010 & Ecuador in 2014) and two ended in a draw.
3. Current Form Of Both Squads
Both Switzerland and Brazil are in excellent form as they both performed spectacularly in their respective last ten matches. Switzerland has only lost one game against Spain and one draw against Northern Ireland. Whereas Brazil has an undefeated streak with three draw games in their last ten matches.
4. Key Players
Brazil's striker Neymar Jr. has made his return and playing just for 129 minutes, he has already scored two goals. he recovered quicker than expected and here is what Thiago Silva had to say about his recovery,
"After three months, and having played just a game and a half, he is already playing at a high level. Nobody expected that. Not even him. "
Switzerland, on the other hand, has two key players Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri. Both of them have been a vital part in Switzerland's only one losing streak.
Here is what Switzerland's boss Vladimir Petkovic had to say,
"We're not here to make a lovely match but to win it. We'll try to be as organized as possible, you need to provoke a team like Brazil into making mistakes so you can create opportunities, that's the mentality you need to have because we'll need to score one or two goals to win the game."
We think that today's match will be a nail-biter as both the teams will try and win. However, it will end in a draw.
Here is the possible lineup of both Brazil and Switzerland:
| Brazil | Switzerland |
| Alisson | Yann Sommer |
| Marcelo | Stephan Lichtsteiner |
| Joao Miranda | Fabian Schar |
| Thiago Silva | Manuel Akanji |
| Danilo | Ricardo Rodriguez |
| Philippe Coutinho | Valon Behrami |
| Casemiro | Granit Xhaka |
| Paulinho | Xherdan Shaqiri |
| Neymar | Blerim Dzemaili |
| Gabriel Jesus | Steven Zuber |
| Willian | Haris Seferovic |
Click to check out the five Brazilian Players to Watch today.
