World Cup Round of 16: Brazil will advance to the Quarterfinals

Now that the group stages have concluded, it’s Brazil and Mexico who square up in the first round of the knockout stages. 

Mexico started out their 2018 World Cup campaign with the biggest upset of the tournament – handing the defending champion Germans a 1-0 defeat on the back of Hirving Lozano’s goal, which ultimately led to their early elimination.

Germany now continues the streak of defending champions falling out in the group stage: Italy won it in 2006 and didn’t make it out of their group in 2010, and Spain and Germany followed suit at the next two World Cups.

But back to Mexico, as they continued their way through Group F with a comfortable win over South Korea, a match that included Chicharito’s 50th international goal.

However, Mexico faltered in their final group stage match, getting completely outclassed by a Swedish side who proved that maybe they really are better off without Zlatan. 

Now over to Brazil, who has now won their 10th consecutive World Cup group. It wasn’t an easy road, however, as they started off with a 1-1 draw against eventual group runners-up Switzerland.

It seemed that the Brazilians were going to begin the World Cup with two draws, as their match against Costa Rica was still scoreless heading into stoppage time.

But Gabriel Jesus laid down perhaps the touch of the tournament when he laid off a cross for the oncoming Philippe Coutinho, who smashed home to make it 1-0.

A few minutes later, Neymar would seal the deal with a tap-in to give Brazil a 2-0 victory and all 3 points.

Finally, Brazil took care of business against a tough Serbian team, with unlikely goalscorers Paulinho and Thiago Silva getting on the scoresheet, which ultimately resulted in Brazil winning Group E.

Brazil and Mexico will now face off in what should be one of the more exciting ties in the Round of 16.

The match features two teams trending in opposite directions, with Mexico coming off the aforementioned 3-0 blowout against Sweden, and Brazil coming in with two straight victories.

Mexico will be determined to break their “Round of 16 curse”, as they’ve incredibly been eliminated from the last six World Cups in the Round of 16.

However, in order to do so, their attackers will have to be in peak form against a Brazil team that allowed just one goal in Group E, and just 11 goals in 18 matches in CONMEBOL qualifying.

A team that’s usually known for their attack, Brazil’s defending has been their strongsuit as of late. Strong performances from veterans like Thiago Silva, Miranda, and Marcelo have made them almost impenetrable at the back, while Casemiro is doing an excellent job in the defensive midfield role, breaking up play and just being an overall midfield nuisance for the opposition.

Unless Chicharito, Carlos Vela, and Hirving Lozano play the match of their lives, it’s hard to imagine them getting past Brazil, and even if they (the attackers) do, we still haven’t seen the full potential of Brazil’s attack so far in the tournament – only a flash at the end of the Costa Rica game. It could very well be unleashed against Mexico.

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Prediction: Brazil 2-0 Mexico, goals from Neymar and Gabriel Jesus