Favourites Brazil get their 2022 World Cup campaign underway when they take on Serbia at the Lusail Stadium on Thursday night.
The Brazilians head into the tournament in superb form having come off the back of a record-breaking CONMEBOL qualifying campaign. They amassed 45 points after winning 14 and drawing three of their 17 qualification games to finish six points clear of second-placed Argentina.
It maintained Brazil’s record of qualifying for every World Cup finals since 1930 and they are unbeaten in their last 15 World Cup group games, so the Samba Boys are expected to have no problems getting out of their group in Qatar. Serbia are their first opposition in Group G and with matches against Switzerland and Cameroon to come, Brazil will be confident of progressing to the knockout stages once again.
However, it’s been 20 years since Brazil last won the World Cup so they’ll be desperate to end that run this winter. The Brazilians are ranked No.1 in the world by FIFA and are the bookmaker’s favourites to go all the way this year.
Serbia also impressed in the qualifying campaign after topping their group. A late 2-1 victory against Portugal in their final group game ensured they qualified for the World Cup unbeaten having won six and drawn two of their group matches. Therefore, Dragan Stojkovic’s side will be quietly confident of causing an upset.
Betting odds
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Brazil are the 3/1 favourites to win the 2022 World Cup – ahead of England, Spain and France who are all priced as the 7/1 second favourites. Argentina have moved out to 9/1 following their shock loss to Saudi Arabia.
The Brazilians are 1/2 odds-on to beat Serbia on Thursday night. You can get odds of 6/1 on the Serbians claiming a famous victory while it’s 7/2 on a draw.
Neymar is 4/1 favourite to open the scoring in this match and a 2-0 Brazil win can be backed at odds of 7/1 with many betting sites. Brazil are 6/4 to win to nil which looks a good bet if Liverpool’s Alisson Becker can keep another clean sheet.
Liverpool duo to start?
Liverpool fans should see at least one of their players starting this match with Alisson Becker expected to get the nod in goal ahead of Manchester City’s Ederson. Alisson has been excellent for Liverpool once again this season and should be in confident mood heading into the World Cup.
Fabinho on the other hand hasn’t been at his best this season for Liverpool but he’s still a top class player who should play an important role for Brazil during the World Cup.
Brazil manager Tite has plenty of options in the defensive midfield role but Fabinho will hope to get a start either ahead of, or alongside, Man Utd’s Casemiro in the middle of the park.
Neymar is obviously the star man in this Brazilian side and he’s expected to start in attack along with Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. Chelsea’s Thiago Silva should marshal the defence while Arsenal duo Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli are also vying for starts in attack.
Prediction
The Brazil squad is packed full of talent and it’s easy to see why they are the favourites to win the World Cup. Serbia will want to give a good account of themselves and they should be well organised, but it’s difficult to see past a routine win for the South American’s. Brazil 2-0 Serbia
