A new episode of the biggest rivalry in South American football will take place on Friday as Brazil host Argentina for their World Cup qualifying match. The reverse fixture took place almost a year ago and it ended 1-1, with Leandro Lima making it all square for Brazil after Ezequiel Lavezzi had opened the scoring. The last six meetings between the two sides were quite evenly matches, each team clinched two victories while other two matches ended in draws. The last World Cup qualifying direct meeting on Brazilian soil was in 2008 and it ended goalless.
Brazil are leading the South American qualification group with 21 points collected in 10 games, but they have to keep grabbing some points before making sure of qualification. The match will be played at the Mineirao stadium, it's the first time the Brazilian team return to this ground after they got hammered 7-1 by Germany here at the 2014 World Cup. There are no injury worries for head coach Tite ahead of this match, Neymar is ready to make his return to the team after having missed the 2-0 victory in Venezuela last time out.
Argentina are currently outside of the qualifying places, they are sixth in the group table and desperate to climb into the top four. They are just five points behind leaders Brazil, but with only eight games left to play, the difference is getting more and more difficult to make up. In October they played two qualifying matches and things ended quite badly, a 2-2 draw in Peru was followed by a 1-0 defeat at home against Paraguay. Lucas Biglia is the only injury concern for head coach Edgardo Bauza.
Probable line-ups:
Brazil: Alisson - Alves, Miranda, Marquinhos, Marcelo - Fernandinho - Coutinho, Giuliano, Renato Augusto, Neymar - Gabriel Jesus
Argentina: Romero - Zabaleta, Otamendi, Funes Mori, Mas - Perez, Biglia, Mascherano, Di Maria - Higuain, Messi
My prediction: Brazil to win 3-2.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Brazil win - 2.15
Draw - 3.40
Argentina win - 3.75
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Comments (1)
mannixx
11/14/16, 12:11:31 AM
What a game from Brazil, i thought they can do whatever they want on the pitch. After a long time they look like a real famous Brazil footbal team. Argentina was...
What a game from Brazil, i thought they can do whatever they want on the pitch. After a long time they look like a real famous Brazil footbal team. Argentina was awfull especially left back Mas, who i never heard before , i checked he is 27 years old player of San Lorenzo , looks like they just want to get him an Europe transfer in the winter.
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