Location: Estádio Metropolitano de Mérida Time: 8:30pm EST Standings Pos...........................Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts 2 Brazil 9....5...3.1.21...9 ..+12..18 10 Venezuela 9....0...2.7.9....24..−15..2 Goleiros: Alisson - Roma (Itália) Alex Muralha - Flamengo Weverton - Atlético-PR Zagueiros: Gil - Shandong Luneng (China) Marquinhos - PSG (França) Miranda - Atlético de Madrid (Espanha) Thiago Silva - PSG (França) Laterais: Daniel Alves - Juventus (Itália) Fágner - Corinthians Filipe Luís - Atlético de Madrid (Espanha) Wendell - Bayer Leverkusen (Alemanha) Meio-campistas: Rafael Carioca - Atlético Mineiro Fernandinho - Manchester City (Inglaterra) Giuliano - Zenit (Rússia) Lucas Lima - Santos Oscar - Chelsea (Inglaterra) Paulinho - Guangzhou Evergrande (China) Philippe Coutinho - Liverpool (Inglaterra) Renato Augusto - Beijing Guoan (China) Willian - Chelsea (Inglaterra) Atacantes: Taison - Shakhtar Donetsk (Ucrania) Roberto Firmino - Liverpool (Inglaterra) Gabriel Jesus - Palmeiras Neymar - Barcelona (Espanha)* *Suspended for this match due to a yellow card Técnico: Tite Brazil looks to extend its Era Tite winning streak to 4 matches in the wake of its easy 5-0 destruction of Bolivia in Pernambucan territory. The glaring absence will be Neymar, who received a yellow card in tense moment against a Bolivian player (and who was bloodied by another Bolivian's elbow strike). Tite's choices have continued to perform as Brazil had 5 different goalscorers in the victory on October 6. Neymar himself, as well as Phillipe Coutinho, Filipe Luís, Gabriel Jesus, and Roberto Firmino (aka "Safadão") left their marks. As veteran BigSoccer member @celito noted in his Brazil vs. Bolivia preview, it was expected that Bolivia would be an opponent who would stay behind rather than to go forward. But Bolivia surprised early on and did not simply park its field players in front of goal. It remains to be seen if Venezuela will be as aggressive as it was on home ground when it last played there - a disappointing 2-2 draw against Argentina, after the Venezuelans built a surprising 2-0 lead. As hosts in this tournament, Venezuela's record thus far is: 0-1 vs. Paraguay, but the latter scored at the 85th minute 1-3 vs. Ecuador, after the visitors were up 0-3 1-4 vs. Chile, after scoring the first goal 2-2 vs. Argentina, in what was the only game they had a chance of winning (they built a 2-0 lead) Brazil is definitely favored to win this match, and I believe we will. Without Neymar, it'll be interesting to see how Tite will escalar his team. I expect Gabriel Jesus to start again, and predict Firmino will replace Neymar on the starting XI.
Is Giuliano staying in the team? I think he played very well!!!!! There is talk of Willian replacing Neymar?
I think for this game Paulinho will return to the starting lineup and for some crazy reason I wouldn't be surprised if he was handed the captain's armband!!
Venezuela actually played better than Uruguay in the first half and probably should've scored a couple of goals. So I actually expect this to be a tougher game compared to the Bolivia game. This would have been the perfect situation for Douglas costa to be available as he would be the natural replacement for Neymar . I am not really sure how Tite will approach this.
Indeed. I'd go with the natural option of Coutinho to the left, Willian to the right. And since Paulinho is now available, I think he will start.
Coutinho, Willian and Jesus should be enough fire power for Venezuela but they gave Argentina trouble without Messi last round so who knows.
I don't know if this is a joke or not, but if it's anyway somewhat true...I would rather him replace Neymar on the road vs Venezuela rather than our next vital home game in Belo Horizonte!!!
Tite is bringing back the scolari era, first paulinho, then Thiago silva , feenandino now Bernard. I am expecting Fred to join against Argentina Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm very surprised Thiago hasn't seen any minutes last game. And whats up with Bernard nowadays? Is he even playing? I remember when Corinthians ( I think) were gonna sign him last year but his greedy ass wanted the same or similar amount of money shakter were paying him. Then had the nerve to cry/complain in an interview about his situation.
He is still under contract with with shaktar. Although he was trying to escape from his contract, his club was refusing to release him a few years ago. Afaik He is struggling to get playing time at the club. Another of the scolari era who along with Dante and fred disappeared from the face of earth after wc. Paulinho was in the same boat until tite rescued him
BeIn is going to screw us over by showing the 2 other concurrent games that just started on both their channels. They will be joining the game half way through.
Any other spanish channel showing the matches, understandably game against Venezuela cannot be top billing