Brazil vs Argentina: Preview and Projected Lineups

La Albiceleste desperately need a result against their bitter rivals

Argentina are in danger of missing out of the 2018 World Cup after FIFA recently sanctioned Bolivia for fielding an ineligible player in two World Cup qualifiers, causing them to forfeit both by a scoreline of 3-0. One of those matches happened to be against Chile, which sent La Roja to the fifth spot and above Argentina in the standings.

The visitors are also in an awful form coming into this match. They were winless in their last three games, which included a loss at home to Paraguay and disappointing away draws against Venezuela and Peru.

Meanwhile, Brazil will be playing their first ever game in Belo Horizonte after the humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany back in 2014 World Cup. Although they suffered their joint biggest defeat in Mineirão Stadium, the players are confident they can rewrite the history and leave a good impression this time around.

The hosts do have a reason to be optimistic. Since the appointment of Tite back in June, they have won all four games played under him. Not only did they just win but they won convincingly and comfortably. In those four games, they scored up to 12 goals and only conceded one.

David Luiz, Oscar, Lucas Moura, and Gabriel Barbosa are still left out of the squad while Casemiro is not available due to an injury. However, with the likes of Neymar, Douglas Costa, Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Thiago Silva, Dani Alves, Marcelo, and Gabriel Jesus, the team remains very strong.

The away side faces a blow after Paulo Dybala and Nicolas Gaitan went down with injuries. They have brought in four new faces to the squad with keeper Geronimo Rulli of Real Sociedad, defender Julio Buffarini of Sao Paulo, midfielders Marcos Acuña of Racing Club, and Guido Pizarro of Tigres UANL.

Both Tite and Edgardo Bauza were brought in to their respective sides after failures in Copa America Centenario. Since his appointment, Tite has been trying to implement a new philosophy to the team by switching players’ positions throughout the game constantly, giving players more independence on the pitch, having them attack and defend together as a unit, and most importantly, fielding five midfielders to dominate the midfield.

While for opposition coach Bauza, things aren’t looking so good. He started off with a huge win at home over another bitter rivals Uruguay, but the follwing three games have been winless. After his preferred systems of 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 failed to work for the team, he has come out and said he will field a more defensive 4-4-2 for the match against Brazil to narrow the midfield and deny space to in form Coutinho and Neymar.

Lionel Messi’s return certainly gives Argentina a big boost. They have won all three games he played in, but just won once in seven games where he was absent and only picked up a total of seven points.

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Given the current forms and the home advantage, Brazil certainly look to be the clear favorites for this match up. They are finally clicking as a team and Tite has them flying at the moment. While on the other side, Bauza is still trying to find an identity for this Argentina side and players such as Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria, and Gonzalo Higuain continue to underperform. They will try to sit back and soak up the pressure from the hosts but given how error prone their defense has been, it’s hard to imagine Brazil not scoring in this game. The hosts should win by a scoreline of 2-1 or even 3-1.

Projected Line ups

Brazil (4-3-2-1) – Alisson; Marcelo, Miranda, Marquinhos, Dani Alves; Fernandinho, Renato Augusto, Paulinho; Neymar, Coutinho; Gabriel Jesus.

Argentina (4-4-2) – Romero; Mas, Funes Mori, Otamendi, Zabaleta; Di Maria, Mascherano, Biglia, Enzo Perez; Higuain, Messi.

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