LUSAIL, Qatar (Reuters) – Brazil coach Tite opted to start Vinicius Jr. in a four-man attack for their World Cup Group G opener against Serbia on Thursday.
Tite will unleash Vinicius alongside Neymar, Richarlison and Raphinha, with only two genuine midfielders in Lucas Paqueta and Casemiro as Brazil begin their quest for a record-extending sixth World Cup trophy.
Serbia, who were sweating on Aleksandar Mitrovic’s availability due to an ankle injury, named their leading striker in the starting line-up.
He will play alongside Filip Kostic, who was also a last-minute question mark for coach Dragan Stojkovic due to injury, with striker Dusan Vlahovic on the bench.
Brazil:
Alisson; Danilo, Thiago Silva (c), Marquinhos, Alex Sandro; Casemiro, Lucas Paqueta, Neymar; Vinicius Jr., Raphinha, Richarlison.
Serbia:
Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, Milos Veljkovic, Filip Mladenovic, Strahinja Pavlovic, Nikola Milenkovic, Andrija Zivkovic, Nemanja Gudelj, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Sasa Lukic, Dusan Tadic (c), Aleksandar Mitrovic.
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas, editing by Ed Osmond)
