World Cup 2022: Why to expect Brazil to score first against Croatia

The Checkered Ones came from behind to draw 1-1 with Japan in their last-16 showdown, and Dominik Livakovic then stopped three penalties in a 3-1 shootout success.

Meanwhile, a merciless Brazil quickly found their golden touch in attack to record a 4-1 win over South Korea courtesy of strikes from Neymar, Richarlison, Lucas Paqueta and Vinicius Junior.

Paik Seung-ho came up with a stunning consolation for South Korea, but the plaudits belonged to the Brazil's forwards, who should once again make headlines for all the right reasons on Friday.

Brazil are facing a Croatia side who have only shipped two goals in their four World Cup matches so far, with Zlatko Dalic's side conceding to Alphonso Davies of Canada and Japan's Daizen Maeda.

However, both Davies and Maeda scored the first goal of the game against Croatia, whose attackers have not been the stars of the show at the 2022 World Cup so far.

Despite scoring a brace against Canada, Andrej Kramaric has not been able to perform consistently up front, while their other three goals have come from Marko Livaja, Lovro Majer and Ivan Perisic.

Croatia boss Dalic is blesssed with other striking options in the forms of Ante Budimir and Bruno Petkovic, but neither man has made the net ripple in Qatar just yet, and the latter endured a particularly tough afternoon against Japan.

In contrast, Brazil took all of 36 minutes to score their four goals against South Korea, and it should therefore come as no surprise if the Selecao draw first blood in their quarter-final.

Furthermore, Croatia have now conceded the first goal in six of their last eight matches at the World Cup, with the two exceptions being their goalless draws with Morocco and Belgium in the group stage.

As a result, the Checkered Ones are well-trained in coming from behind and will likely be forced to do so on Friday if they are to dump Brazil out, but goalscoring and playmaking stars are in plentiful supply for Tite.

Indeed, Richarlison now has 10 strikes from nine Brazil games in 2022, and Neymar has directly contributed to 15 goals in his last 11 international matches - scoring eight and setting up seven more.

Meanwhile, Raphinha is yet to score or assist in Qatar, but the Barcelona man has posted a team-high eight shots and an identical number of chances created, so Croatia's previous defensive resilience may not count for much at the Education City Stadium.

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