World Cup Betting: Brazil vs Croatia tips, odds and expected starting line-ups

The World Cup kicks off in the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo with the hosts taking on Croatia. The offensive prowess of the Samba boys coupled with the inability of Croatia o defend against pace makes this one relatively easy to predict. Brazil are clear favourites to start the tournament against Niko Kovac’s men and this is reflected by 1.33 odds for an outright win. I wouldn’t go for a draw or a Croatia win but for the really brave punters out there, bet365 offers tempting odds of 5.00 and 13.00 respectively.

Special Offer: $250 Brazil vs Croatia FREE BET

Brazil go into this tournament with great confidence having won all five off their Confederation Cup matches including a 3-0 thrashing of Spain in the finals. They followed this up by winning all three recent friendlies that they played, scoring ten goals while their mean defence did not concede any. The hosts have averaged just under three goals scored per game in the Confederation Cup and backing them to score three goals or more could over good value with odds of 2.05. The Asian Handicap market could also be looked at with odds of 2.05 for a 1.5 Brazil handicap. They have the likes of Fred, Neymar, Hulk and Oscar so this team will score. Croatia made great work out of qualification as they had to take the hard route via the playoffs. They eventually qualified for the showpiece by recording a 2-0 aggregate victory over Iceland.

Brazil, meanwhile made light work of their opposition in the Confederations Cup, winning all matches at both half time and full time. Scolari’s team will want to burst out of the blocks again so they are worth a punt with the half time/fulltime bets with odds of 1.91. The goal scorer market is also worth taking a look at with Neymar priced to score at any time at 2.10, Fred at 2.30 and Hulk at 3.25. Brazil don’t usually score from corners but if they are going to, Thiago Silva is priced at 9.50 while David Luiz has odds of 11.0.

Odds Comparison: