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FULL-TIME, Serbia 0-2 Brazil: Very strong performance from Brazil, who have won the group and will now face Mexico in the Round of 16. After two poor games, the Seleção showed tonight that they are indeed favorites to win it all.
GOAL! Serbia 0-2 BRAZIL (Thiago Silva 68’): It’s now a two-goal lead for Brazil! Neymar with the corner, Thiago Silva with a strong header!
SECOND HALF KICKOFF! Serbia 0-1 Brazil: Let’s finish the job, boys!
HALF-TIME, Serbia 0-1 Brazil: This has been a bad game of football, but Coutinho and Paulinho are the reason why Brazil lead. Yay!
GOAL! Serbia 0-1 BRAZIL (Paulinho 36’): BRAZIL TAKE THE LEAD! Philippe Coutinho plays a gorgeous ball over the top and Paulinho chips the keeper for the opening goal!
KICKOFF! Serbia 0-0 Brazil: Let’s do this, boys! Can’t do a Germany tonight!
LINEUPS
SERBIA
Starting XI: Stojkovic; Rukavina, Milenkovic, Veljkovic, Kolarov; Milinkovic-Savic, Matic; Tadic, Ljajic, Kostic; Mitrovic
Bench: Rajkovic (GK), Dmitrovic (GK), Tosic, Milivojevic, Spajic, Ivanovic, Zivkovic, Prijovic, Rodic, Grujic, Radonjic, Jovic
BRAZIL
Starting XI: Alisson; Fágner, Thiago Silva, Miranda, Marcelo; Paulinho, Casemiro, Coutinho; Willian, Gabriel Jesus, Neymar
Bench: Ederson (GK), Cássio (GK), Marquinhos, Pedro Geromel, Danilo (out), Filipe Luis, Fernandinho, Renato Augusto, Fred, Douglas Costa (out), Taison, Roberto Firmino
It’s World Cup Day 14! The group stage is coming to an end and we now know four of the eight Round of 16 matchups. Two more will be decided today, and two big Barcelona players will be hoping to book their ticket to the knockouts.
Brazil and Serbia clash in Moscow in what promises to be a very tough game for the Seleção. They’ll be out of the tournament if they lose to the Serbians as long as Switzerland get at least a point against Costa Rica, and Serbia have proven in the first two games they’re a tough costumer.
Serbia are a physical team with talented midfielders and a monster of a striker in Aleksandar Mitrovic, and they absolutely can win this one and cause perhaps the biggest upset of the World Cup by eliminating the five-time winners in the group stage.
So Brazil will need to play their best football, which they haven’t so far, but Philippe Coutinho was the start of the first two games and will also probably be among the biggest reasons for a Brazil success tonight. Paulinho hasn’t had a great tournament yet, but he has the trust of his manager and will start once again. As we’ve seen all season at Barcelona, he doesn’t need to play well to run into the box and score at any moment, so his team will surely be hoping for more of that.
You don’t need to be a Brazilian like me to watch this game, so join me for a live blog! I can’t promise to be unbiased.
MATCH INFO
Date/Time: Wednesday, June 27, 2018, 8pm CET (Barcelona), 7pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 2pm EST, 11am PST (USA), 11.30pm IST (India)
Venue: Spartak Stadium, Moscow
HOW TO WATCH, STREAM WORLD CUP
How to watch on TV: FOX (USA), ITV 1 (UK), SuperSport 3 (Nigeria), Sony ESPN (india), TSN (Canada), others
How to stream: NBC/Telemundo (USA); ITV Hub (UK), FuboTV (7-day 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!