vs. Location: Estadio Centeario, Montevideo Brazil roster: Goleiros Alisson (Roma) Weverton (Atlético-PR) Ederson (Benfica) Zagueiro Gil (Shandong Luneng) Marquinhos (PSG) Miranda (Inter de Milão) Thiago Silva (PSG) Laterais Daniel Alves (Juventus) Fagner (Corinthians) Filipe Luis (Atlético de Madri) Marcelo (Real Madrid) Meio-campo Casemiro (Real Madrid) Diego (Flamengo) Fernandinho (Manchester City) Giuliano (Zenit) Paulinho (Guangzhou Evergrande) Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) Renato Augusto (Beijing ) Willian (Chelsea) Atacantes Diego Souza (Sport) Douglas Costa (Bayern de Munique) Firmino (Liverpool) Neymar (Barcelona) 4 months after the conclusion of the 2016 fixtures, Brazil resumes its campaign towards qualifying for a berth in next year’s World Cup in Russia, and there will likely be no more a hostile venue in the remaining calendar than Uruguay’s Centenario Stadium. The Uruguayans, who have themselves witnessed a resurgence of sorts after their decades-long fall from dominance in the continent more than generation ago, have themselves shown to be an opponent to be reckoned with in this tournament; they started with a 2-0 away win in Bolivia and despite a few defeats, they showed impressive form in their 4-0 destruction of Paraguay, near-win in Colombia (before the locals tied), and have historically been a thorn in Brazil’s side when hosts. In the first confrontation in this qualifying, Uruguay came back from being down 2-0 to draw with goals from Cavani and Suárez, thus repeating a feat from 2000 and from 2003. In 3 months’ time, manager Tite led a struggling group to the top of CONMEBOL’s league table, as Brazil won 6 straight matches with 17 goals scored and only 1 allowed. The roster has a few changes from the group chosen for the victories against Argentina and Peru last November. Gabriel Jesus, one of Brazil’s brightest new young stars, will be absent due to injury. As well, this roster will have Benfica goalkeeper Ederson (who replaces Alex Muralha) and the Diego-Diego duo: Diego from Sport and Flamengo midfielder Diego. Lucas Lima, present last time, is absent this time. Uruguay is in second place overall with 23 points behind Brazil’s 27, and the Uruguayans do not want a repeat of their last hosting of Brazil in WCQ - an affair which ended poorly for the locals, who were vanquished 4-0 by Dunga’s team in 2009. Tite will have his hands full as Brazil faces the tournament’s second-best offense. Uruguay’s 24 goals are only behind Brazil’s 28, and 16 of those 24 were scored at home, with an average of 2.67 goals per game. Peru fared well by losing only by 1-0, and at home, Uruguay has been defensively almost flawless, conceding only one goal (to Ecuador, on the last fixture). This is a breakdown of Uruguay’s home performance: 3-0 vs Colombia 3-0 vs Chile 1-0 vs Peru 4-0 vs Paraguay 2-1 vs Ecuador Óscar Washington Tabárez, Uruguay’s manager, has been on the job for several years, and while he’s had some peculiar drawbacks (losing to a Maradona-led Argentina at home), he’s also a seasoned manager with 2 World Cups behind him (with the 2010 4th place). Uruguay has talented strikers in Suárez and Cavani, but it continues to demonstrate aggressive and physical marking, and Brazil must be careful not to get itself into card trouble early on. With Gabriel Jesus out, all eyes will be on Neymar to produce - and it remains to be seen if Firmino can continue his previously solid performances. If this match does not end in a draw, it may well define the tournament for the winner. A win for Brazil will nearly seal qualification as Brazil will have 30 points – since the “todo mundo vs. todo mundo” system was adopted, Brazil qualified with 30, 34, and 34 points (2002, 2006, and 2010). And if Uruguay wins, it’ll not only trail Brazil by 1 point going into the next round a few days later, but it’ll position itself to potentially overtake Brazil as top team in this campaign.
This good news for us. I don't know about this one honestly. Some of boys are in different form from couple of months ago.
This will be tough for us without G. Jesus, but Willian is playing well recently for Chelsea... And it is always good to have a good Neymar!
Well, we have an injury problem as well. Douglas Costa got hurt during a Bayern training session and he's out.
Tough match in hostile territory and with Uruguay sailing high and in good form. Real shame GJ and DC are out. Good news Suarez out.
I'm seeing a gritty 2-2 draw like last year!! I guess this will be our starting line-up? In a 4-3-3 Alission D. Alves Miranda Marquinhos F. Luis Fernandinho R. Augusto Paulinho Coutinho Neymar Willian(capt)
I personally would've started Marcelo over F. Luis, but I think Tite will give F. Luis the nod because he has more grit and can be more dirtier(ask Messi, he'll tell ya) playing in Uruguay!! And correct me if I'm wrong, but I dont think Willian has worn the captain armband yet!! And I would return Casemiro to the starting line-up in place of R. Augusto!!
That's good about Robin(Firmino) so if or when he does fizzles out Batman(Coutinho) can come to the rescue!!
Alisson; Daniel Alves, Miranda, Marquinhos e Marcelo; Casemiro; Philippe Coutinho, Renato Augusto, Paulinho e Neymar; Roberto Firmino A 4-5-1?
Strong defense: goalie plays for Vasco da Gama, 2 defenders for Atletico Madrid... this will be a tough game! I will be happy with a draw...
Smaller sample size with Tite, but you can see some of the stylistic differences translate statistically.