Brazil and Argentina test favoritism against Croatia and the Netherlands

The duels between the South Americans Brazil, again with Neymar, and Argentina, of Lionel Messi, and the Europeans Croatia and the Netherlands, respectively, illustrate this Friday’s program of the quarterfinals of the Championship World Cup 2022.

The Brazilians, five times world champions, are looking for their 12th presence in the semi-finals of the World Cups, after having imposed themselves, with authority, on South Korea, from Paulo Bento (4-1), in the ‘quarters’, already with Neymar recovered from injury.

Ahead, the ‘canarinha’ selection will face Croatia, finalist defeated in 2018, which, under the ‘baton’ of Modric, is for the third time in this phase of the competition, after the third place in 1998, after a suffered journey, with with only one triumph, against Canada, by 4-1, and the elimination of Japan, on penalties (3-1, after the 1-1 equality), moment in which Livakovic ‘shone’ by defending three Japanese kicks.

The match between Brazil and Croatia is scheduled for 18:00 local time (15:00 in Lisbon), at the Education City Stadium, and will be refereed by the Englishman Michael Oliver, in what will be the third meeting between the two teams in World Cups , after the two ‘canarinho’ triumphs, in the group stages of the 2006 and 2014 competitions.

Afterwards, Argentina and the Netherlands reedited the 1978 final, at 22:00 (19:00), at Estádio Lusail, under arbitration by the Spaniard Antonio Mateu Lahoz.

With the Benfica fans Otamendi and Enzo Fernández, the South American team, twice champion and three times finalist, aspires to the sixth presence in the ‘semi-half’, after having started the competition with a surprising defeat against Saudi Arabia (2-1) and away to Australia in the ‘eighth’ (2-1).

The eternal candidates Netherlands, with the recovered Memphis Depay, still dream of their first world title — they lost the finals of 1974, 1978 and 2010, having, in the 11th presence, won Group A, imposing themselves to Senegal, Ecuador and Qatar, and the United States (3-1), already in the knockout stage, to try to reach the semi-finals for the sixth time.

Argentina and the Netherlands have met five times at the World Cups, with an advantage [teórica] for the European team, who won two of the duels, but lost the most important ones: the 1978 final, by 3-1, after extra time, and the 2014 semi-final, on penalties (4-2, after 0-0 ).

The winners of today’s games will face each other in the first semi-final of the Mundial2022, on Tuesday, while the remaining places will be defined on Saturday, the day of the matches between Portugal and Morocco and between England and France.