Brazil: The team to beat at the World Cup

Eight teams from the American continent will be participating at the upcoming World Cup. These eight are Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. Out of the eight, Brazil is the hot favourite to reach the latter stages of the World Cup. With the hopes of the American continent pinning on Brazil, let’s assess its chances in the World Cup. You can also have your say by tipping any American team you think will be more successful at the World Cup by visiting online casino games UK.

Group Stages

In the group stages, Brazil is going to face Switzerland, fellow American team Costa Rica as well as Serbia. On paper, Brazil should not have any problem qualifying for the next round i.e. the last 16 stage. Switzerland is not particularly one of the best teams in Europe but it showed the world that it has what it takes to compete at the highest stage when it kept Northern Ireland at bay in both the World Cup play-off games. Against a top team like Brazil, Switzerland will be hoping to put in a good performance in order to leave an impression at the World Cup. However, a positive result for Switzerland is totally out of the picture. Costa Rica may know the Brazilian team well than the other teams in the group but that may count for nothing as there is a huge gap in talent between this Brazilian team and the Costa Rica team. The same can be said of Serbia which does not boast the same talent as Brazil.

The road to the Final

Brazil’s biggest challenge at this year’s World Cup is likely to come after the group stage matches i.e. from the last 16 onwards. This is as a result of the calibre of opposition that Brazil will have to face. Teams such as Germany, France, Spain and even Argentina pose a bigger threat than Brazil’s group stage opponents. Considering Brazil’s talent in the squad, the team is likely to reach the final regardless of the opposition it will face along the way.

The biggest challenge for Brazil however in winning the World Cup is experience. It’s clear that Germany, the reigning World Cup champions have more experience within their ranks than Brazil and even Spain who still have the likes of Andreas Iniesta, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique who all have World Cup meals from the 2010 World Cup.

Players to watch

While every Brazilian player is expected to give 100 percent on the field of play, there are some players who are expected to give more than others. Talisman Neymar is one such player, his quest to reach the heights set by former teammate at club level Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will need him to perform superbly at the biggest stage. Failure to do so will be a step back for him and potentially disastrous for Brazil. There is no better stage to fight for the Ballon d’Or than the World Cup and Neymar knows it.