The first of the two World Cup last 16 matches on Monday sees the Samba Boys back in action as Brazil take on Mexico in a Latin American clash which should be full of excitement and quality football.
Brazil cruised into the knockout stages as the winners of Group E while Mexico ended up needing South Korea to beat Germany to confirm their place in the final stages of the tournament. A potential quarter final with Belgium awaits the winners.
Special Offers
Do you fancy Neymar to score at some point in this match. If you do why not sign up to a Coral account today and get a MASSIVE 40/1 on him doing so! Click the banner below for this amazing offer!
Do you expect Brazil to qualify like we do? Sign up to Ladbrokes today and get a quite frankly ridiculous 40/1 on the Samba Boys to make it through! Click the banner below to take advantage of this outstanding offer!
Brazil
When you hear pundits talk about the tournament and who has caught the eye there hasn’t been many mentions for Brazil so far but I’m not sure why. I think they have looked the best side in the tournament. They might not have spanked everyone silly like most people will have expected but they dominated all three of their matches.
I’m sure it is the expectation of the name of Brazil that has been the issue but so far Tite’s men have played three defensive opponents, scored five goals and the only one they have conceded in that time probably should have been ruled out by VAR. When you think we should expect there to be more to come from the likes of Neymar and Gabriel Jesus there is plenty for Brazil to be excited about.
Mexico
Going into the tournament all eyes were on Mexico to see how they would go and halfway through the group stage when they had dominated Germany and beaten South Korea they were really being talked up. Then came a serious reality check when Sweden blew them away and suddenly the win over Germany was made to look average with the defending champions being awful throughout and out of nowhere the Mexicans have gone from being talked up to being overrated.
I tend to lean a little towards the latter argument although if ever Mexico put away all of their chances someone will get smashed to pieces. Much will be made in the lead up to this match about Mexico’s disastrous record in the knockout stages of this tournament but to me they have issues when they come up against the better sides and they didn’t really face a good side in the group stage. When they faced a half-decent one they were ripped apart.
More Special Offers
Do you think this match will go beyond the 90 minutes? Scared to back the team you think will win in case its a draw? Sign up to 888sport today and get massively enhanced prices on either team to qualify! Click the banner below to bet at the boosted odds!
Are you following our advice and backing Brazil to win? Sign up to Betfair today and don’t worry about getting odds on about them to win – get a massive 30/1! Click the below banner for the huge odds!
Team News
Brazil have an injury doubt over Marcelo who left the previous match against Serbia early in the piece. There is talk that Roberto Firmino could start, presumably for Gabriel Jesus but time will tell if that happens or not.
Mexico will be without their centre-back Hector Moreno who has picked up two yellow cards and is suspended. Hugo Ayala is expected to be his replacement in what may be a similar side to the one which beat Germany.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
We will find out once and for all about how the argument whether Mexico are overrated or not should be answered in this one. Whether they are overrated or not I still think they get beat here purely because they are up against the side who I thought was the best team in the tournament going into it and whom I still have that opinion of in Brazil.
Brazil look good in attack to me and contrary to popular opinion heading into the event they have looked fine at the back too. Mexico rarely seem as confident in knockout football as they do in group play and you sense if Brazil get in front early they will exploit their opponents here. The surprises over the weekend have made me a little cautious for this match so while I’m still backing Brazil I’ll back them on the Asian handicap lines rather than the European ones.
Tips
WON – Back Brazil (-1AH) to beat Mexico for a 4/10 stake at 1.86 with BetVictor
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018
