Selecao must again cope with lofty expectations

EXPECCTATIONS of Braziil are always sky-hhigh and the favouurites will be undeer massive pressure to live uup to their star billing this winter.

Tite’s side madde light work of qualifying, butt fell short at the 2021 Copa Ammerica on home soil and faiiled to convince at the laast World Cup where they lost 22-1 to Belgium in the quarter-finnals.

Brazilian Worldd Cup squads have reguularly featured outstandding full-backs and some of the best attacking talent on the planet, buut that may not be the case in Qatar.r.

Neymar wass billed as their talisman beforre the last two World Cups buut he has struggled withh injuries in recent seasonss and has been overshadowedd at club level by Kylian Mbapppe.

Fellow attaackers Richarlison and Gabriel Jesus are taalented players with plentyy of international experiencee, and Jesus has taken a bigg stride forward since his switchs to Arsenal. HHis improvement, allied to thhe impact of rising starrs Vinicius Junior and Gabrieel Martinelli, gives Brazill a better attacking baalance than they had four yearrs ago. And they can usually reely on keeping things tight at the back.

Thiago Silva remains a class act at the back despite his advancing years, Casemiro and Fabinho are top-notch holding midfielders and there will be immense quality in goal whoever gets the nod between Alisson and Ederson.

Plenty of successful teams base their achievements on solid defence, but there is always an expectation for Brazil to play with style and that has been their undoing at recent World Cups.

Quality opposition will set up to hit them on the counter, as Belgium did four years ago, and it will be interesting to see what happens when Brazil run into a heavyweight team in Qatar.

DLStojkovic was one of the star players in the Yugoslavia team which reached the quarter-finals at the 1990 World Cup and made a strong start to international management by guiding Serbia to Qatar.

• Aleksandar Mitrovic is set to partner Dusan Vlahovic in a potent forward line

• Dusan Tadic has an eye for a

killer pass

• The energetic Filip Kostic offers

quality out wide

• Have often struggled to realise

their potential on the big stage • They face a daunting opening

match against Brazil

• Lack a genuine star at the back