In the aftermath of a series of injuries and friendly matches, here we are yet again, on the brink of the inauguration of a new World Cup.
Now it's time to talk real business.
At 3:30 pm (local time), the Arena Corinthians in Saõ Paulo will host the opering ceremony of the XX edition of the FIFA World Cup. Brazil is organizing the event for the second time in history, and its team is determined to give their fans a glorious home edition performance, something to remember for decades.
Today the samba warriors will clash with Croatia in the first match of the competition.
I had a look at the Brazilian National team's opening matches in past World Cup history.
Going for 17?
Brazil has won 16 out of its 19 opening matches, drawing once and losing twice. These two defeats, however, go back to the competition's early days. This happened in 1930 (2-1 against Yugoslavia) and in 1934 (3-1 hands down to Spain).
From 1950 onwards, Brazil has never conceded more than one goal, finishing on a clean sheet 9 times out of its 16 matches.
Mexico has always been their perennial victim: three times the two American teams have confronted each other, twice in a row (1950, 1954 and 1962), and three times Brazil has won. 11 goals scored, 0 conceded. Boom!
Today the South American players will meet Croatia. The only previous encounter between these two teams has been at another World Cup opening match: it took place in Germany, 8 years ago, and Brazil nailed them 1-0. Is revenge in the air or will history repeat itself?
One thing's for sure: every time Brazil ended up winning the trophy, the squad had won their initial match. Neymar and co.'d better keep that in mind.
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