Rock-solid Brazil living up to billing as WC favourites

Can Croatia cross one final hurdle come Sunday night and become the ninth nation to win the World Cup? Standing in their way are France, whose sole ambition will be to claim that coveted piece of glory for the second time at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

As an independent nation, Croatia might not have a rich history as far as their participation in the biggest show on Earth is concerned but since their World Cup debut in 1998, eight years after being liberated from Yugoslavia, it has been a spectacular journey for them.

Coincidentally, it was also the year that France became the seventh nation to win the World Cup, which was on their home soil, by defeating Brazil 3-0 in the final.

More interestingly, it was France who shattered Croatia's dreams by defeating their first 'golden generation' in the semifinal of that tournament 2-1, thanks to two quick blows from Les Bleus defender Lilian Thuram after Croatia's Davor Suker had scored in the 46th minute.

Even in that defeat, Croatia became only the second team after Portugal to have the best finish as debutants. They were placed third following a 2-1 win over Holland in the position deciding game, where Suker scored his sixth goal to win the Golden Boot.

If that was a big statement by an up and coming footballing nation, then the exploits of their next generation, now marshalled by Luka Modric, is no less spectacular as they have reached the finals despite a below-par qualifying campaign.

Croatia launched their campaign in Russia with a 2-0 win against Nigeria before pulling off a magnificent 3-0 win against two-time winners Argentina. They beat Iceland in the last group league game to move into the round of 16 with the maximum number of points.

And in the last three knockout games, where they had to battle it out beyond regulation time, Croatia showed tenacity and the will to fight till the end.

Croatia's round of 16 game against Denmark was a classic example of their never-say-die attitude. After conceding an early goal, they equalised and took the game to extra time, where Modric missed a penalty. However, the Real Madrid midfielder showed courage and stepped up in the shootout to convert his spot kick.

In the quarterfinal against hosts Russia, which they won in the shootout after a 2-2 draw, they faced a similar scenario. This was also the case in the semifinal against England before Mario Mandzukic hit the winner in the 109th minute.

The Juventus forward might not be as prolific as Suker was on the big stage but he has the knack of scoring goals from out of nowhere. Croatia actually have individual winners in Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Ante Rebic and Ivan Perisic, the Inter Milan forward who has been in fine form.

Croatia's last three games might have started slowly but gradually picked up with the progression of the game, which is a hallmark of a good team.

They also showed how athletically fit they are as they had to play for 120 minutes in all three previous games.

Against England at Saint Petersburg, many thought it would be impossible for them to survive if the game went beyond regulation time. Surprisingly though, it was England who slowed down as the game progressed. In addition, when the Turkish referee blew the final whistle, Croatia were heading for another crack at the goal.

France midfielder Paul Pogba previously said that he wants to earn his own star on the shirt on Sunday. However, the world will not be surprised to a see the birth of a new star.

Five-times World Cup winners Brazil have struggled to impress in South America's qualifiers for the 2026 tournament but defender Marquinhos had called on fans to stick by the side ahead of Tuesday's home game against Uruguay.

With a run of five wins, four losses and two draws, Brazil are fourth in the standings on 17 points, five behind leaders Argentina, with the top six qualifying automatically for the World Cup in North America. Uruguay are second on 19 points.

Brazil were held 1-1 in Venezuela on Thursday, with Vinicius Jr seeing a late penalty saved, and stand-in skipper Marquinhos said the players still took pride in playing for the shirt even when results did not go their way.

"Even though many things might cause people to lose hope in the national team, we ask that they never lose their passion for it," the 30-year-old told a news conference on Sunday.

Brazil, who were beaten by Uruguay in Montevideo last year, are in a transitional phase under head coach Dorival Junior and it will take some time to iron out the problems, he added.

"We will still make some mistakes because this transition is still very new, with all these changes of players and teams," said Marquinhos, who deputizes for regular captain Danilo.

"But we will make fewer and fewer mistakes and that makes us happy.

"We don't worry too much about the standings as long as we're in a comfortable position. We want to win to move up the table, make the work flow better, and gain confidence."

Brazil go into Tuesday's match without a host of top players with defender Eder Militao and forwards Neymar and Rodrygo among those sidelined due to injury.

Forget snakes, it's scorpions Brazilians most need to worry about.

The arachnids -- feared for the toxic stinger poised atop their tails -- are proliferating thanks to urbanization and warming temperatures.

The result is that scorpions have become the most lethal poisonous animal in Brazil, posing a growing danger for people across the whole country -- and spurring demand for antivenom.

The most widely found species in the country, the Brazilian yellow scorpion, is the most dangerous scorpion in South America.

Unusually for scorpions, this all-female species also reproduces asexually, reducing population-control options.

"With a warming habitat, these animals' metabolisms are also warming, so they are more active, eating more and reproducing more," explained Thiago Chiariello, production coordinator of the scorpion antivenom lab at Brazil's Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo.

Add to that rampant urbanization which both scares away scorpions' natural predators such as lizards and birds while boosting the number of available cockroaches -- tasty meals for the arachnids -- and the problem is evident.

"Cities are growing unchecked" and the spread of trash they bring means more food supply for scorpions, Chiariello said.

"This is leading to more contact with people, which means more accidents."

Soaring sting numbers

Last year -- the latest dataset available -- there were 152 deaths from scorpion stings in Brazil, compared with 140 from snakebites. That was an increase from 2019, when 95 deaths by scorpion sting were recorded.

According to Brazil's health ministry, there were more than 200,000 scorpion sting incidents registered last year -- 250 percent more than a decade earlier, and an average of nearly 550 stings per day.

Healthy adults might get mild to moderate symptoms from a Brazilian yellow scorpion sting, including pain, vomiting, profuse sweating and tremors.

But there are more severe symptoms -- including shock, fluid build-up in the lungs, cardiovascular collapse and heart failure -- that can prove deadly, especially for children and the elderly.

Life-saving antivenom

That makes the Butantan institute's antivenom very important.

Chiariello's team carry out their serum-making task in making that serum with extreme precision.

They first use tweezers to guide a live scorpion's stinger into a container.

The poison is then injected into horses, which are less vulnerable to the toxin's effects than humans, and which produce more antibodies.

"There is a whole purification process in the horses' blood," explained Paulo Goldoni, a biologist at the institute.

"The serum is the only way to save lives," he said.

Last year saw more than 11,000 people in Brazil receive scorpion antivenom, mostly in the country's heavily populated southeast, according to authorities.

With serum demand growing, but also the number of available scorpions, the Instituto Butantan has a steady supply of venom donors.

"If ever there was a lack of serum, we would certainly see a serious increase in the number of deaths," the biologist said.

Bazil are still a work in progress with a lot of room to grow and improve following Saturday's Copa America quarter-final exit at the hands of Uruguay, coach Dorival Jr said as they shift their focus to the World Cup qualifiers.

Marcelo Bielsa's Uruguay were reduced to 10 men in the second half but kept Brazil at bay in regulation time before beating them 4-2 on penalties to advance to the semi-finals where they will play Colombia.

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Brazil had failed to impress at the tournament, drawing twice in the group stage while beating only Paraguay before their second straight quarter-final exit from a major tournament following the 2022 World Cup.

"We are undergoing a very important renovation or reinvention of this team. I have only coached this team for eight matches and this is a process that we have to go through," Dorival said while taking "full responsibility" for their exit.

"We are aware of the difficulties we will come across throughout the path, but we now lost a match in the knockouts and that wasn't what we expected.

"But I repeat, we have a lot of room to continue growing, evolving, improving and our main objective now is to qualify for the World Cup. Right now we are sixth in the (CONMEBOL) standings, we are not comfortable with that."

Dorival, who took the national team job only in January, also praised Bielsa's Uruguay, saying it was a team Brazil could aspire to be after the Argentine instilled his philosophy on the side.

"I think the Uruguayan national team has a pattern, a very well-defined pattern. They have been working for a long time together. They had some problems at first, they corrected them," Dorival said.

"Now they are finding great results. I think we will achieve all that as well, not a doubt about it, but we need some time to make such corrections.

"We had some issues at the beginning of the tournament. I think we corrected plenty of mistakes... It is tough given the period of time that we had to work to try to speed up the process. I think we'll have some more time in the future."

Real Madrid defender Eder Militao will miss Brazil's World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru this month due to a thigh injury, the Brazilian FA (CBF) said.

Real's Militao, who also missed last month's international fixtures with a leg injury, had travelled to Sao Paulo after featuring as a late substitute in Real's 2-0 win over Villarreal on Saturday.

"He underwent tests this Sunday... which revealed a minor muscle injury in his left thigh that will prevent him from playing," the CBF said in a statement.

Flamengo's Fabricio Bruno has been called up to replace Militao, the statement added.

Brazil are fifth in South America's World Cup qualifiers with 10 points from eight matches, with the top six set to directly qualify.