On Friday, December 9th, the Brazilian team will face not only the 2018 world runner-up, but also a terrible recent record against Europeans: 4 eliminations in the last 4 World Cups.
The Brazilian team has reached the quarterfinals of a World Cup 13 times and advanced on 8 occasions, but was eliminated on 5. And all of these 5 defeats occurred against European teams, with 3 of them occurring in the last 4 World Cups. Now see what this Brazil x Croatia lineup will be like.
Brazil vs Croatia Lineup
Brazil will play against the Croatian team, in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Cup, on Friday (09) at 12 pm. And they will face not only the 2018 world runner-up, but also a terrible recent record against Europeans.
We know that since the fifth championship, in 2002, the team has been eliminated 4 times in a row by teams from the old continent, 3 times in the quarterfinals: 2-1 to Belgium in 2018, 2-1 to the Netherlands in 2010 and 1-0 to France in 2006.
And in the 2014 World Cup, Brazil even made it to the quarterfinals, defeating Colombia 2-1, but in the semifinals the fateful 7-1 defeat to Germany took place. They also ended up losing in the dispute for 3rd place, to Europeans: 3-0 to HHolland.
Read also
Brazil is a bigger favorite against Croatia than Portugal against Morocco; see odds
Is the glass half full?
We can say that the national team's participation in the World Cup quarterfinals is not the only disaster. Brazil has advanced to the semifinals in 8 of the 13 opportunities, and the “glass half full” is that 6 of the 8 qualifications for the semifinals were against Europeans. Now see what the scores were:
• 2-1 against England in 2002
• The 3-2 against Denmark in 1998
• It was 3-2 against the Netherlands in 1994
• 3-1 against England in 1962
• 1-0 v Wales in 1958
• 3-2 against Czechoslovakia in 1938
The exceptions are the 2-1 defeat to Colombia in 2014 and the 4-2 defeat to Peru in 1970. Furthermore, in 6 of the 8 times that the team reached the semi-finals, it also reached the final and was champion 5 times (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002), with only 1 runner-up finish (1998). The only 2 defeats in the semi-finals were the 7-1 defeat to Germany in 2014 and the 4-2 defeat to Hungary in 1954.
See the team's clashes in the World Cup quarter-finals:
- The 1938 World Cup – Brazil 3 x 2 Czechoslovakia (defeat in the semi-final)
- In 1954 – Brazil 2 x 4 Hungary
- Sweden 1958 – Brazil 1 x 0 Wales (champions)
- Chile 1962: Brazil 3 x 1 England (two-time champion)
- With Mexico in 1970: Brazil 4 x 2 Peru (three-time champion)
- Mexico 1986: Brazil 1 (3) x (4) 1 France
- USA 1994: Brazil 3 x 2 Netherlands (four-time champions)
- France 1998: Brazil 3 x 2 Denmark (lost in the final)
- South Korea/Japan 2002 game: Brazil 2 x 1 England (five-time champions)
- South Korea/Japan 2002: Brazil 2 x 1 England (five-time champions)
- Germany 2006 – Brazil 0 x 1 France
- South Africa 2010: Netherlands 2 x 1 Brazil
- Brazil 2014: Brazil 2 x 1 Colombia (loss in the semi-final)
- Russia 2018: Brazil 1 x 2 Belgium