World Cup 2014: Brazil vs Netherlands
Brazil will be out to restore some pride in their third-place play-off against Netherlands on Saturday following their humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany on Tuesday night.
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side had hoped to win the World Cup on home soil, but were brutally beaten by Joachim Low’s men in the semi-final at the Estadio Mineirao and will now look to at least end the tournament on something of a high with victory over the Dutch in Brasilia.
Thiago Silva returns from suspension to shore up a defence which leaked five goals in the opening half an hour against Germany, but Neymar is out after fracturing his vertebra in the quarter-final win over Colombia last week.
Silva has called for Brazil fans to stay behind their team and says the Selecao will play Saturday’s game as if it were the World Cup final.
Scolari may decide to take Fred from the firing line after the striker was booed by home fans on Tuesday, while Willian is set to start in the absence of Neymar after Bernard disappointed against Germany.
Dani Alves and Maxwell could also come in for Maicon and Marcelo at the back, with Hernanes set to start in midfield.
While Brazil play for pride, Netherlands will want to preserve their unbeaten record in this competition, having lost out only on penalties to Argentina on Wednesday.
Before that, the Dutch had beaten Spain, Australia, Chile and Mexico, and edged out Costa Rica in a shootout in the last 16.
Van Gaal could hand a start to Swansea’s Michael Vorm in goal, having used each of the other 22 players in his squad so far in this competition.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss said he would have thrown on Tim Krul for the penalty shootout against Argentina, just as he did against Costa Rica, had he not used all of his substitutes – and may consider that tactic on Saturday if his side and Brazil are still level at the end of extra time.
