Our football match prediction:
Brazil
Match Time & Date:
02/07/2018
15:00 GMT
Prediction: 2-1
Mexico
There will be fireworks when Brazil and Mexico face each other at Samara Arena in the last 16 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. The Selecao booked their place in the knockout stages by beating Serbia 2-0, but it seems as if Tite’s troops have yet to find their best form. Neymar has netted only one goal at the showpiece tournament in Russia so far, but the opposition defenders should have him at bay. The bad news for Brazil fans is that the likes of Marcelo, Danilo and Costa are likely to miss Monday’s football game with injury. El Tri, on the other hand, made it to the last 16 despite suffering a heavy 3-0 loss to Sweden in their last group game. Mexico experienced all sorts of problems at the back in the defeat to the Nordic side, which is probably the main reason why we are tempted to put our money on the Brazilians.
Highlighted Player (Miranda):
Miranda is a Brazilian central defender who plays for Internazionale in Serie A. He began his career at the Brazilian club Coritiba and within a year moved to French club Sochaux. But after failing to establish himself even there, he was soon back in Brazil with Sao Paulo. It was only during the five years at Sao Paulo that Miranda earned his name as a tough centre back. In 2011, he made a move to Atletico Madrid and was a key member of Diego Simeone’s hard-tackling defensive unit. Miranda’s tenure at Atletico was laced with many titles including La Liga and UEFA Europa League. He made his full international debut for Brazil in 2009 and was a key member of the squad that won the Confederations Cup that year. Miranda represented Brazil only 27 times so far but has established himself as a regular for new coach Dunga, after replacing Thiago Silva.
Highlighted Team (Mexico):
Football was brought below the United States border by European immigrants who build the foundations for what went on to become one of the most prominent footballing nations in the world. El Tri have qualified to the total of 15 World Cups and have become one of six nations to qualify successfully for the tournament since 1994. Alongside Brazil and Germany, Mexico are the only country to make it past the group stage over the last six World Cups so it is fair to say that miners from Cornwall and Spanish exiles fleeing the Civil War made a pretty good job embedding the football gene. Mexico are the reigning CONCACAF champions having beaten the surprise package Jamaica 3-1 in the final. Juan Carlos Osorio’s team is captained by Rafael Marquez who is the fourth most-capped player behind Gerrardo Torrado, Pavel Pardo and Claudio Suarez. Bayer Leverkusen striker Javier Hernandez is the team’s biggest star and current squad’s top scorer with 81 goals to his name. Chicharito is only eight goals behind Jared Borgetti who is the nation’s top scorer.
