The Rostov Arena will provide a spectacular setting for the second match in Group E at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, which pits tournament favourites Brazil against Switzerland, who are the only side in history to have beaten eventual World Cup champions in their opening match.
Sunday’s game marks the return of the Brazilians to the World Cup stage following their traumatic campaign on home soil in 2014. It took them fully two years to recover from the experience, with the arrival of the wily Tite in the dugout in the middle of 2016 restoring a sense of calm to the team.
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In revitalising the side and finding the right blend, he ensured they were the first South American side to reach Russia in 2018. Such was the scale of his overhaul of the squad that the five-time world champions have only six players with World Cup experience in their ranks, as was the case four years ago.
Facing them will be a durable Swiss side that has lost just once since early 2016 and only exited UEFA EURO 2016 on penalties. Though they had to go through the play-offs to qualify, Switzerland put together an excellent campaign in the European preliminaries and know what it takes to impress against a big-name team in an opening match, having beaten eventual champions Spain in their first outing at South Africa 2010.
Playing XI
Brazil: Becker, Silva, Miranda, Casemiro, Jesus, Neymar, Coutinho, Marcelo, Danilo, Paulinho, Willian.
Switzerland: Sommer, Lichtsteiner, Akanji, Seferovic, Xhaka, Behrami, Rodriguez, Zuber, Dzemaili, Schaer, Shaqiri.
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