Match Previews

Fred, Costa, Fagner and Augusto are all likely to be fit. Alves is sidelined.

Played a couple of solid friendly games against Croatia and Austria and claimed comfortable 2:0 and 3:0 wins. The Samba Boys played some superb football in the second half against the Austrians in Vienna and look in pretty good form and mood ahead of the start of the World Cup. They arrive on the back of a superb run of 17 wins in 21 games under Tite, keeping clean sheets in 16 games.

Will be wary of the threat posed by a solid Swiss side when taking on them on Sunday in their opening group game. The Brazilians will be facing a deep defensive block but know that Switzerland have some dangerous attacking players that can catch them off guard at times.

Tite seems rather settled on the starting 11 for the opening game and the one real question mark is whether he will start with Philipe Coutinho in midfield ahead of Fernandinho This scenario has not been used that much but the team looked excellent with Coutinho in midfield in the second half against Austria and it looks like Tite will keep it the same.

The build-up to the opening game in the World Cup has been dominated by injuries to a number of squad members. Douglas Costa, Fagner, Fred and Renato Augusto have all been troubled by various knocks in the last ten days or so but they are all progressing well and should be available for the game on Sunday. Dani Alves is definitely sidelined but there are no other major absentees.