Brazil faces strong Serbia in FIFA World Cup 2022 opener

Brazil is the favourite to win the FIFA World Cup 2022. It is preparing to play Serbia in its opening match on Thursday. Brazil is full of young players, with 16 making their World cup debut. Tite is unsure if he will play Vinicius Jr. up front. Serbia clinched an automatic berth in Qatar with a comeback 2-1 win over Portugal in their last qualifying match. Serbia has never moved past the group stages at the World Cups since the breakup of Yugoslavia. The team also includes Switzerland and Cameroon. They finished top of their Nations League group and were promoted to the top-tier League A.

Brazil has won the World Cup five times and is favourite to win a record-extending sixth title. Brazil has not reached the final since 2002. Aleksandar Mitrovic is Serbia's all-time top scorer with 50 goals. Serbia was unbeaten in its qualifying campaign and beat Portugal in the last game to qualify. They met each other in a friendly in 2014 and in 2018 World cup group stage.