Croatia’s Sosa fit for quarter-final, but Brazil’s Sandro out | Qatar World Cup 2022

Borna Sosa will face Brazil on Friday, but Alex Sandro misses out with a hip injury.

Croatia defender Borna Sosa is fit to face Brazil in Friday’s World Cup quarter-final match in Qatar.

The 24-year-old left back was to take part in the final training session ahead of the game at Education City Stadium, coach Zlatko Dalic said on Thursday. The Stuttgart player had missed the round-of-16 match against Japan because he was ill.

“We won’t make many changes because the last 16 went great for us and our team,” Dalic said.

His team beat Japan on penalties after a tight match on Monday that was 1-1 after normal and extra time.

Dalic said he would rather face favourites Brazil later in the tournament, but added that taking on the five-time world champions was the pinnacle of international football.

“There is no better moment than playing against Brazil. Anyone could only dream of such a game,” he said.

“We know what Brazil means to the football world, but we do not have a lot to lose. We must fight them, must give our best.”

Brazil defender Alex Sandro, meanwhile, is set to miss the 6pm (15:00 GMT) clash against the 2018 runners-up as he continued to deal with hip issues.

He was expected to take part in the final training session before the game “but probably won’t be available” for the match, coach Tite told reporters on Thursday.

Alex Sandro suffered a hip injury during the group stage, and also missed Brazil’s 4-1 thrashing of South Korea in the round of 16.

Also on Friday, the Netherlands take on Argentina at 10pm (19:00 GMT) in the second quarter-final of the day.

The action will continue on Saturday, when Morocco will fight it out with Portugal and England with France for a place in the semi-finals.