Korean newspaper believes that the home team made a surprise against Brazil
* Brazil - Korea: 2pm on Tuesday, December 6, on MetaSports.
Chosun commented that "Brazil performed below expectations in the group stage of Qatar 2022". The army under Tite won 2-0 Serbia, 1-0 Switzerland and then lost to Cameroon 0-1 in the last round - a result that made them break their 17-match unbeaten streak in the group stage since 1998, and lost to the European representative for the first time. Africa at the World Cup.
Brazil's all-star attack was disappointing when it scored only three goals in three group stage matches. This is the second worst score among the teams entering the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup, behind only the US and Poland - two teams scoring twice, and Brazil's own worst record since scoring three goals in the group stage. 1974.
Another detail that can give Korea hope, according to Chosun, is "Brazil's poor conversion rate". The South American giant only scored three goals from 51 shots. This parameter is even far behind Korea with four goals from 35 shots. Spain topped the group stage in this statistic with nine goals from 36 shots, including a 7-0 win over Costa Rica in the opening leg.
From Brazil, O'globo newspaper is also concerned about the home team before playing Korea. "Tite's attack is slow, hasn't scored in the first half," this daily wrote, and cited evidence that Brazil totaled only 18 shots in the first half of the matches against Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon.
However, O'globo expects Neymar's return to help Brazil solve the problem in attack. Before injuring his right ankle in the opening game against Serbia, the 30-year-old striker was outstanding with three decisive passes and four shots. This is the second best statistic in Brazil's attack counting all three rounds of the group stage, just behind Rodrygo with six shots.
Brazil - the team at the top of the FIFA ranking table - owns a squad with a total value of $ 1.2 billion, which is seven times more than South Korea - about $ 175 million.
According to Gracenote's prediction, after defeating Korea, Brazil will defeat Croatia - the team that meets Morroco in the 1/8 round - in the quarterfinals. Next, the South American representative will eliminate Argentina in the semi-finals and then beat Spain in the final to win the sixth World Cup.
Data firm Opta makes an even more pessimistic prediction for South Korea, with the probability that the Asian representative will surprise Brazil at only 14.41%. This is the lowest number of teams participating in the 1/8 round, just ahead of Australia - the team has a 13.78% chance and in fact lost to Argentina.
BBC commentator Chris Sutton, who is known for his high accuracy rate in predicting the results at the 2022 World Cup, also predicts Brazil will reach the quarterfinals. Before the tournament, the former England striker predicted that Korea and Portugal would qualify for the group stage. "Korea showed organizational strength in the victory over Portugal, but that was not enough to make Brazil worry. Brazil will win 2-0 whether Neymar plays or not," Sutton said.
