Brazil v Croatia: Dangerous David Luiz among our 3 best bets

At last! The World Cup is upon us! And with hosts Brazil heavy favourites for victory over Croatia, we’ve picked out three of the very best bets to help you see some big Selecao-inspired profits!

The Samba Boys are 3/10 to win the World Cup opener, with their European opponents a distant 10/1 to win while the draw can be backed at 4/1.

But rather than highlight the obvious, we’ve picked out three of the best bets on offer for this curtain-raiser – read on and enjoy…

Brazil/Brazil – Half-Time/Full-Time @ 10/11

Phil Scolari’s team have made a habit of coming out of the blocks all guns blazing, having gone in ahead at half-time in each of the five games they played at the Confederations Cup – with the Selecao going on to win on every occasion.

Throw in Brazil’s recent record of leading at half-time and full-time in four of their last five friendly games going into this encounter and it’s hard to argue against a similar outcome for Neymar & co.

Brazil to win to nil @ 17/20

Julio Cesar may have been forced to go out on loan at Toronto FC but the former Inter Milan stopper nevertheless looks a good bet to keep a clean sheet against a Croatia team that will be without Mario Mandzukic – their top scorer during qualifying and at Euro 2012.

Brazil have shipped just one goal in their last seven games, with Cesar currently on a run of three straight games without conceding and should be backed to continue that run here.

David Luiz to be shown a card @ 11/5

Something of a guaranteed starter, David Luiz looks the best bet when it comes to finding a likely yellow card recipient, as our team guide warned. Booked for Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League final, the former Benfica man has been known to lose his head on the big stage with a dodgy tackle or two.

He’s got form for it too, having been booked against Italy and Uruguay at the Confederations Cup, while an 11th minute yellow card in a recent friendly win over Panama shows he’s nothing if not consistent.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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