Host nation Russia face a decisive match against Mexico on Saturday in Kazan, only a victory could see the hosts pull through to the semi-finals. Mexico are currently leading Group A at the FIFA Confederations Cup, tied on four points with Portugal but with a better goal difference, while Russia are in third place with three points out of their two games so far. Portugal face New Zealand at the same time and Cristiano Ronaldo and company will probably win the match easily. Mexico and Russia have never met before in an international match.
Mexico are still undefeated at this year's FIFA Confederations Cup, they started out with a good 2-2 draw against group favourites Portugal and then they fought back from one goal down at half time to beat New Zealand 2-1. They only need a draw to qualify for the semi-finals, but that result would most likely drop them to second place as Portugal should beat New Zealand. Carlos Salcedo picked up an injury in the previous match and will probably miss out, while Chicharito Hernandez and Carlos Vela will probably be back in the starting eleven after being rested against New Zealand.
Russia are under pressure, they are the host nation and they will be out of the tournament if they don't win this match. They started the tournament with an easy 2-0 win over New Zealand, but then lost 1-0 to reigning European Champions Portugal. They have only won four of their last seventeen matches, a track record that doesn't give them much hope ahead of a clash with a tough team such as Mexico. The good news for the home side is that they don't have any injury worries ahead of this match.
Probable line-ups:
Mexico: Ochoa - Araujo, Reyes, Moreno, Layun - J. dos Santos, Herrera, Guardado - Vela, Jimenez, Chicharito
Russia: Akinfeev - Jikia, Vasin, Kudryashov - Samedov, Golovin, Glushakov, Gazinskiy, Zhirkov - Smolov, Poloz
My prediction: 2-2 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Mexico win - 2.50
Draw - 3.40
Russia win - 3.00
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Comments (1)
sharpe
06/24/17, 08:06:53 PM
Obviously the Russians weren’t good enough to continue their challenge in the tournament, they failed even as a host nation and that just add to their misery of...
Obviously the Russians weren’t good enough to continue their challenge in the tournament, they failed even as a host nation and that just add to their misery of the highest level on the international field in the last years. Certainly Portugal and Mexico were the two teams who definitely deserved to continue in the semis and they've done that, would not be a surprise if some of those teams wins the cup in the end I think.
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