Croatia vs. Brazil 12/9/22 World Cup Soccer Picks, Predictions, Odds

Croatia and Brazil face off on Friday in the quarterfinals of the World Cup at Education City Stadium. 

Brazil finished in 1st place in Group G having picked up six points so far this season. In the first game of the knockout stage, Brazil scored four goals against South Korea, and that led to the three-goal victory. Vini Jr scored in the 7th minute, and they never looked back as they cruised to the easy victory. Brazil had 54 percent of the possession and nine shots on target. Gabriel Jesus and Alex Telles have both been ruled out for the rest of the World Cup. Alex Sandro is dealing with a hip injury and also isn’t expected to play in this game. Neymar played in the last game, and he’s expected to be able to play again in this game. 

On the other side of this matchup is Croatia who finished in second place having picked up five points. In the first game of the knockout stage, Croatia played Japan, and it took a shootout to advance to this game. Croatia had 59 percent of the possession and four shots on target. It was Ivan Perišić that scored a goal in the 55th minute. Borna Sosa and Josip Stanisic both missed the last game with injuries. Sosa could return in this game., but it doesn’t look like Stanisic is going to play here. There isn’t expected to be many changes made in this game, outside of Sosa maybe returning to the lineup. In this game, Croatia is going to need the defense to be good, or it could be a long game. 

Croatia’s defense is good, but this is a whole different animal going against a team like Brazil. I expect Brazil to not be as dominant as they were against South Korea, but they are still going to have a pretty comfortable victory. Look for Brazil to score at least two goals, and they will secure the victory here. Back Brazil -1 to cash.