TFT Issue 60!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Brazil vs Scotland – Brazil to beat the -1.5 handicap at evens.
Today’s featured game is the International Friendly in England at the Emirates between Brazil and Scotland. I don’t think either nation requires much introduction here!
Brazil are looking better than they did in the World Cup thanks to a change of coach and their sides are starting to look potent again. Barring inexperience in attack, this Brazil side is good enough to win this game comfortably. That’s no disrespect to Scotland, incidentally – there aren’t many sides that I wouldn’t handicap Brazil against! Scotland are a battling bunch and won’t make life easy for Brazil. It’d be stupid to expect anything but a 4-5-1 from Scotland as they look to stifle their samba opponents and attack on counters with most likely Miller up front on his own. Scotland are good at defending – that’s what they’ve been doing for some time now – but they lack one key element here and that’s their fanatical fans. Playing in Scotland gives the Scottish side a huge boost because their fans are just insane. However, playing in England means that the atmosphere here should be something akin to that of a training session.
It may take Brazil some time to break through the Scottish resistance but I do expect them to ultimately do it and that’s when the floodgates should open. I don’t think the scoreline will be more than 3-0; the Scots are still good at defending, after all. I simply think that Brazil have goals in them looking at a midfield potentially containing Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker Jadson, Bayer 04 Leverkusen playmaker Renato Augusto, and midfield engines Sandro of Tottenham Hotspur and Ramires of Chelsea. There’s a lot of pace and tenacity there to combat the inevitable Scottish closing down tactics so I think Brazil will cope ok with that tactic. The big question is whether they’ll take their chances or not but based on what I’ve seen from young Neymar, Santos’ latest wonderkid, he already has the maturity and composure to score goals here. Jonas has made a big jump from Gremio to Valencia CF so we’ll have to see how he does but Internacional striker Leandro and Villarreal CF striker Nilmar should be able to bag here, especially the latter.
For me, the -1.5 handicap at evens is too generously priced here with a big mismatch of sides and styles. I can see it taking Brazil a while to get the first goal but when they do, they should beat the handicap so my call is for Brazil to win -1.5.
Brazil squad:
Goalkeepers – Julio Cesar, Victor, Jefferson
Defenders – Maicon, Lucio, David Luiz, Andre Santos, Daniel Alves, Luisao, Thiago Silva, Marcelo
Midfielders – Sandro, Elano, Ramires, Elias, Lucas, Renato Augusto, Jadson, Henrique, Lucas
Strikers – Neymar, Jonas, Nilmar, Leandro Damiao
Scotland squad:
Goalkeepers – Bell, Gordon, McGregor
Defenders – Berra, Caldwell, Crainey, Hanley, Hutton, Whittaker, Danny Wilson, Mark Wilson
Midfielders – Adam, Bannan, Brown, Commons, Cowie, Davidson, McArthur, Morrison
Strikers – Mackail-Smith, Maguire, Miller, Snodgrass
Verdict: Brazil to beat the -1.5 handicap at evens.
Additional game:
Madagascar vs Guinea – away win at 8/11.
I honestly can’t break this one down more than “quality difference”. Madagascar are one of those sides like Central African Republic or like Ethiopia who only come out for the African Nations Qualifiers because they’re so poor as footballing nations that other sides don’t feel the need to face (and beat) them in friendlies and they obviously never progress through the qualifiers. Guinea, however, are a good side, one of the top ten in Africa, in my view. They’ve got talented players such as Yattara (Trabzonspor) and Bangoura (Al-Nasr) in attack, who both bring pace to the Guinea attack. Bangoura is their best striker by a mile with the ex-Dynamo Kiev hitman having a lethal finish and good off-the-ball movement. In addition, Guinea have Zayatte and Kalabane in defence, both of which are very experienced, as is Balde and Camara. They’ve also got Mansare of Toulouse and Bah of VfB Stuttgart in midfield so creativity is there too. Guinea’s goalkeeper is an issue that they need to address but I don’t see it being a probably today against a vastly inferior and frankly unrecognisable Madagascar side. Away wins in Africa are never easy but at 8/11, Guinea are a must here – they’re simply a lot better than their hosts.
Verdict: Guinea to win at 8/11.