Santos vs Bahia
KO: (UK time)
Santos don’t have a particularly flattering record against Bahia and it’s because they’re not sure how to defeat teams that work harder than they do. What Bahia lack in quality, they make up for in industry. Defeating them – particularly away from home – is very taxing. It’s by no means impossible, but they know how to annoy their opponents in general, and they certainly know how to annoy the likes of Santos.
There’s no denying that Santos have the better individuals, of course. They’re a cornerstone of Brazil’s Serie A, having produced a plethora of world-class footballers over the years. These days though, they’re an underwhelming team – and I use the term “team” as loosely as I can because they don’t play as a team. All they ever play as is a group of individuals. Luckily, they’ve got players like Lucas Lima and Soteldo that are good enough to decide games in their favour. If that doesn’t work though, then there is no “Plan B”, hence their perpetually inconsistent form.
Santos are lucky enough to have a constant supply of talented youngsters though. Some of them are forced through a bit too early but the talent is there. I still can’t make up my mind on Marcos Leonardo but he has his moments too. There’s generally enough there for Santos to at least threaten. On the road, I’m a bit more dubious about that, but not many home games go by without them scoring, whether it’s merited or not. Therefore, expecting them to bag at least once at home against Bahia is not a particularly big ask on my part.
Defensively speaking though, Santos remain a joke. Not working hard enough obviously plays a part, but there’s a lack of quality in defence too, not to mention a lack of work behind the scenes to improve their personnel in that area. One of these days, it’ll be what gets them relegated – well, that and their lack of work ethic. Never trust Santos to keep clean sheets, folks, because even when they do, it’s usually by accident.
Bahia are in a rich vein of form at the moment. No, they’ve not beaten anybody that’s particularly good, but three wins on the bounce has done plenty of good for their confidence levels, and I already mentioned how hard this team works anyway. They’ve scored in all of their recent matches, irrespective of how it’s gone, and I see no reason to believe that they’d suddenly break the chain here.
Renato Paiva’s boys aren’t especially good but a combination of experience, luck on their side, and sheer willpower has allowed them to cause problems so far this season. Yes, they’ll invariably drop off at some stage because they’ll run out of legs but for the next few months, I see no reason to doubt Bahia as being a typically bullish, combative, and dangerous team, especially against opponents that won’t work as hard as them.
For me, Everaldo, Acevedo, Cauly, and co. should be able to make this game interesting, hence my both teams to score pick.
Verdict: Both teams to score at 19/20.