World Cup live blog, Brazil vs Switzerland full-time: Another shock result as Brazil fail to win group opener

FULL-TIME, Brazil 1-1 Switzerland: Well, another upset! The difference between Brazil in the first half and the second is scary. They have to be more consistent to beat Serbia and Costa Rica. And Switzerland are definitely fighting for a place in the knockout rounds.

GOAL! Brazil 1-1 SWITZERLAND (Zuber 50’): Corner for Switzerland, and Steven Zuber finds himself free inside the box for an easy header. He clearly pushed Miranda to get himself free, but VAR thought it wasn’t enough to be a foul and disallow the goal. It’s all even in Rostov!

HALFTIME, Brazil 1-0 Switzerland: It seemed like Brazil were ready to kill this game after Coutinho’s goal, but the Swiss recovered well and managed to go into the break only down one. But the Seleção is dominating here and favorites to win the second half as well.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!!! BRAZIL 1-0 Switzerland (Coutinho 20’): A COUNTINHAZO TO OPEN THE SCORING! The best goal of the tournament so far belongs to Philippe Coutinho thanks to his trademark bomb from the left side into the top corner. WHAT. A. GOAL.

KICKOFF! Brazil 0-0 Switzerland: BORA, RAPAZIADA! Make me proud, boys. Don’t give me a heart attack.

LINEUPS

BRAZIL

Starting XI: Alisson; Danilo, Thiago Silva, Miranda, Marcelo; Paulinho, Casemiro, Coutinho; Willian, Gabriel Jesus, Neymar

Bench: Cássio, Ederson, Pedro Geromel, Marquinhos, Fágner, Filipe Luis, Fernandinho, Renato Augusto, Douglas Costa, Taison, Roberto Firmino

SWITZERLAND

Starting XI: Sommer; Lichtsteiner, Schär, Akanji, Rodríguez; Behrami, Xhaka; Shaqiri, Dzemaili, Zuber; Seferovic

Bench: Mvogo, Bürki, Moubandje, Elvedi, Djourou, Zakaria, Lang, Freuler, Fernandes, Gavranovic, Drmic, Embolo

It’s World Cup Day 4! The competition is now in full swing and we’ve had a lot of fun games, big wins and big upsets, just like a World Cup should be. And today one of the big favorites of the tournament make their debut as Brazil take on Switzerland in Rostov.

Since the appointment of Tite back in 2016, the Seleção is back to being one of the best national teams on Earth, with experience and flair all over the squad and perhaps the most solid defense among the tournament favorites.

They also have some serious attacking talent, including two Barcelona stars in Paulinho and Philippe Coutinho, and the two will be crucial to Brazil getting a win against a very good Swiss side. Brazil also have the young phenom Gabriel Jesus up front, and their biggest star is Neymar, who... well... you know.

Join us for the live blog! This will be a great game!

Note: As always, the comments will be open once the team news are out, about an hour before the game. Join us then!

MATCH INFO

Date/Time: Sunday, June 17, 2018, 8pm CET (Barcelona), 7pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 2pm EST, 11am PST (USA), 11:30pm IST (India)

Venue: Rostov Arena, Rostov On-Don, Russia

HOW TO WATCH, STREAM WORLD CUP

How to watch on TV: Fox Sports 1, NBCSN (USA), ITV 1 (UK), SuperSport 3 (Nigeria), TSN (Canada), SONY ESPN (India), others

How to stream: Telemundo Deportes (USA), ITV Hub (UK), FuboTV (Free trial, click here to sign up)

Matchday Thread Rules

We don’t have a lot of rules here, but there are a few things to keep in mind when joining our matchday threads:

Even if the referee sucks or we lose the game, no swearing. It’s just unnecessary. Also, don’t discuss illegal streaming links. Those who do will be warned, and those who post links will be banned. Finally, be nice to each other. This is a Barcelona community and we don’t need to offend one another, especially when it’s the World Cup.

Have fun with the game! Forever and ever, no matter the competition, VISCA EL BARÇA!