Brazil vs Argentina 17/10/18

17 October 2018

The South American classic between Brazil and Argentina is scheduled to take place at the King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with both teams looking to extend a 3-game lossless streak.

Although the Selecao failed to live up to expectations at the World Cup, having suffered the quarter-finals elimination to Belgium, Tite’s team managed to bounce back from a frustrating defeat to clinch three straight wins in the post-World Cup period. Additionally, the 5-time World Cup winners have kept a clean sheet in all three friendlies after the end of the final tournament, having defeated the United States, El Salvador, and Saudi Arabia, scoring nine goals in the process.

Meanwhile, after the World Cup elimination to France, Leo Messi has decided to leave La Albiceleste, while Jorge Sampaoli had to step down in favor of Lionel Scaloni, who is going to take charge of the national team until the end of the year. In his debut match as an interim coach, Scaloni has led his team to a comfortable 3-0 win over Guatemala, after which Columbia held the 2-time World Cup champions to a 0-0 draw. However, led by the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Roberto Pereyra, and Paulo Dybala, Argentina demolished Iraq last weekend by four goals to nil, as they hope to replicate the similar performance against the arch-rivals.

Tite will have all of his key players fit and ready for the big showdown, with Neymar, Roberto Firmino, and Philippe Coutinho expected to compose the attacking trident. As for La Albiceleste, the aforementioned talents with the assistance of Franco Vazquez and Giovanni Simeone should try to fill the gap left by the absences of Messi, Kun Aguero, Angel Di Maria, and Gonzalo Higuain.