Refreshed Brazil targets strong start

The five-time winner looks to have returned to its thrilling best under coach Tite and was the first team to qualify for the tournament after ripping its way to finish top of the notoriously difficult South American qualifying phase. It has continued that rampant form in its warm-up games and forwards Willian, Roberto Firmino, Gabriel Jesus, Philippe Coutinho and talisman Neymar all looked in good shape in wins over Croatia and Austria.

Brazil was left humiliated by a 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semi-finals of last World Cup as tournament host. The rot continued with two poor displays at the 2015 Copa America and the 2016 Centenario edition which resulted in the dismissal of the defensively-minded coach Dunga. His replacement was the widely admired Tite, who had led Sao Paulo giants Corinthians to its first ever Copa Libertadores triumph in 2012 and an unlikely Club World Cup win over Chelsea.

Tite has a more attacking outlook than Dunga and previous coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who was his physical education teacher at school. His impact on the team has been remarkable, winning 17 of 21 games and only losing once. The coach has also had a fresh approach to team morale, dispensing with the position of a fixed captain and sharing the role around in each game with the aim of giving each player extra responsibility.

One of its most impressive displays was a 3-0 win over arch rival Argentina in qualifying while a recent 1-0 win over Germany, its tormentors in 2014, was particularly cathartic. Standing in Brazil’s way is a Switzerland side which is ranked sixth in the world after winning nine games in a row in qualifying, although many of its best players go into the tournament following dismal campaigns with their clubs.

Talismanic attacker Xherdan Shaqiri was relegated with Stoke City, Granit Xhaka had an inconsistent campaign with Arsenal while centre forward Haris Seferovic failed to start a single game in 2018 with Portuguese giant Benfica.