The greatest show on earth starts on Thursday as the World Cup gets underway with hosts Brazil taking on Croatia in Sao Paulo.

Brazil are expected to go far at the tournament thanks to a wealth of talent that includes Neymar, Oscar and Dani Alves, and they will be desperate to start positively by beating the Croats inside the Arena de Sao Paulo.

Luiz Felipe Scolari's side head into the match having won 15 of their last 16 games in all competitions.

Croatia reached Brazil by coming through a qualification playoff against Iceland, with a 2-0 aggregate victory eventually seeing them through.

The teams' only previous meeting was at the 2006 World Cup in Germany when a goal from Kaka gave Brazil a 1-0 win in the group stage.

Despite an injury scare for Neymar earlier this week, the Brazilian talisman has been passed fit for the hosts, who have no other fitness worries.

Danijel Pranjic and Ivan Strinic are both unlikely to feature for Croatia due to injury, while Mario Mandzukic will be forced to miss out through suspension.

Recent form

Brazil: WWWWWW

Croatia: LDWDWW

Possible starting lineups

Brazil: Cesar; Alves, Luiz, Silva, Marcelo; Paulinho, Gustavo; Neymar, Oscar, Hulk; Fred

Croatia: Pletikosa; Srna, Corluka, Lovren, Vrsaljko; Modric, Rakitic; Eduardo, Kovacic, Perisic; Jelavic

Sports Mole says: 2-0

Written by
Jack Prescott

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