It’s an all-day doubleheader!

Brazil vs. Senegal

Singapore National Stadium, Singapore, October 10, 2019

Kickoff: 8:00 AM EDT / 9:00 AM BRT / 12:00 PM GMT

US TV / Streaming: BeIN Sports

Likely Starting Lineup: Ederson; Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Alex Sandro; Casemiro, Arthur, Coutinho; Neymar, Roberto Firmino, Gabriel Jesus.

Available on the bench:

Goalkeepers: Weverton, Santos.

Fullbacks: Danilo (cut due to injury), Marcinho, Renan Lodi.

Center-backs: Éder Militão, Rodrigo Caio.

Midfielders: Fabinho, Matheus Henrique, Lucas Paquetá.

Forwards: Everton Cebolinha, Richarlison, Gabigol.

Notes and Storylines:

With Gabriel Jesus back from suspension, Tite is bringing back the setup that won the Copa América, where Jesus’ hard work on the right wing proved crucial in giving the side defensive stability and physical presence in attack. Neymar’s return should also provide a substantial upgrade to the front four. The question is, who will he replace? Will it be Everton Cebolinha, a like-for-like swap on the left wing? Or will it be Coutinho, finally moving Neymar to the center and putting two devastatingly quick players in Brazil’s front four?

…Well, it looks like it’ll be the former, at least for now. I get it: a front four of Firmino, Everton, Neymar, and Jesus would pretty much mean you’re just playing a 4-2-4, and as good as Casemiro and Arthur are, it’s questionable whether they could handle being that exposed. (Though, as a counterpoint, you could say that Everton might be able to press more effectively than Coutinho, given that he is a better athlete.) And Coutinho is finally finding himself again at Bayern Munich, so it’s not quite as frustrating as it could have been. But it’s still a bit annoying, because it means that the Neymar-in-the-middle experiment continues at an absolutely glacial pace. (For what it’s worth, my guess is this setup will work better with Everton than with Coutinho, because Neymar on the left will still play through the middle a lot, while Everton tended to stay wider at the Copa América and only drift inside when close to the box.)

Neymar will earn his 100th cap for Brazil in this game, making him only the seventh player to reach that mark. He has already played more games for Brazil than Pelé, Zico, Romário, Ronaldo, or Ronaldinho, and at this rate he’s certain to get to at least third on the all-time list, and possibly to eventually top it. Whether he leaves behind a legacy worthy of the mark is a matter too weighty to discuss here. Especially if he marks his 100th cap with a goal, which would tie him with Ronaldo for second on Brazil’s all-time scoring charts. For what it’s worth, both this game and Sunday’s match with Nigeria are in the same stadium where he played the greatest game of his Brazil career, a four-goal showing against Japan in 2014.

A few players who didn’t play well last time have some newfound competition on the bench. Alex Sandro, who has had many disappointing games for Brazil and was utterly horrible against Colombia, will have to defend his starting spot against Atlético Madrid’s Renan Lodi, a youngster hailed by many as The Left-Back Of The Future. Meanwhile, Roberto Firmino, who’s never looked like a good fit in Tite’s setup, has a new challenger on the bench in the form of Gabigol, the in-form Brazilian striker right now.

What’s most interesting is that Gabigol is probably the closest analogue to Firmino in terms of style, very much a mobile forward who likes to drop deep or wide to combine with teammates or dribble past opponents. This is not the sort of forward Tite seems to really prefer: as I’ve said in the past, his setup seems to be crying out for a Big Man Up Top-type striker. But he seems to be trying to embrace the fact that Brazil’s two in-form center forwards are both smaller, more mobile false nine/second striker types, and that means Gabigol’s performance might give us some insight into Firmino. If Gabigol comes into the team and struggles to impact games, then we’ll have further proof that Tite doesn’t really know how to set up a team around a false nine, and thus that Firmino’s problems are mostly down to the coach. If Gabigol excels, however, then all of the weird, perplexing issues with Firmino’s play for Brazil—his questionable decision making, the way he sometimes seems totally oblivious of what his teammates are doing or two seconds out of sync with the rest of the team—won’t seem so easily excusable.

Less likely to see the pitch is the new right-back, Marcinho, but his presence alone is welcome. The 23-year-old is the first right-back not named Dani Alves, Fagner, or Danilo to be called up for Brazil in over two years, and the first genuine right-back Tite has ever called who’ll be under 30 years old in 2022 (Fabinho doesn’t count). Based on the few highlights I’ve seen, I don’t think he’s The One We’ve Been Looking For—he looks decent, a pretty good crosser maybe a little too fond of shooting whenever he has an opening, but not spectacular—but it’s high time we started trying out younger right-backs. There’s no guarantee that Dani Alves will even still be playing in 2022, Fagner simply isn’t good enough, and Danilo is made of glass. We need to find some new players we can rely on.

Senegal are a pretty good team—one that just finished second in the Africa Cup of Nations, albeit while losing to Algeria in both the group stage and the final. Sadio Mané, one of the world’s best forwards at the moment, is their undisputed star, and though he’s not nearly as prolific for Senegal as he’s been for Liverpool, he’s incredibly fast and could cause problems for a defense that Colombia was able to stretch to breaking point back in September. This will be the first game between the two nations, so I can’t point to any historical record, but I’m going to guess we pull this one out in a narrow 2-1 win.

Brazil U-23 vs. Venezuela

Estádio dos Aflitos, Recife, October 10, 2019

Kickoff: 8:30 PM EDT / 9:30 PM BRT / 12:30 AM GMT

Stream: Someone will likely stream the game on YouTube

Lineup In Training: Ivan; Emerson, Luiz Felipe, Ibanez, Caio Henrique; Douglas Luiz, Wendell, Pedrinho; Antony, Paulinho, Matheus Cunha

On The Bench:

Goalkeepers: Cleiton, Daniel Fuzato

Defenders: Guga, Felipe Jonatan, Bruno Fuchs, Lyanco

Midfielders: Bruno Guimarães, Allan, Mauro Júnior

Forwards: Malcom (cut due to injury) Bruno Tabata, Pedro, Rodrygo

Notes and Storylines:

The starting lineup I’ve put here might well change. This was the most recent report I found from Globo, which noted that several Europe-based players arrived a day or two after the rest of the group. That might explain the absence of the likes of Lyanco and Rodrygo, though it doesn’t explain why Bruno Guimarães seems to be on the bench.

Strangely, we seem to be suddenly lacking at left-back. Renan Lodi moved straight to the senior team after Atlético Madrid didn’t let him play for the U-23s, and now my guess is Guilherme Arana has been similarly barred by his club. That leaves Caio Henrique, who came up as a midfielder, as the likely starter.

Globo ran a short piece on Pedro and Matheus Cunha, this side’s strikers. Neither has had a very productive start to their club season; Cunha hasn’t scored in five appearances for Leipzig, while Pedro hasn’t even made a matchday squad for Fiorentina yet. Cunha has nonetheless been prolific for the U-23s, scoring three goals in the side’s two games in September, while Pedro will be hoping to get some playing time to help jump-start his season.

As far as a prediction, Venezuela can count on some of the U-23 talent that took them to second place in the 2017 U-20 World Cup, so they might well be a tougher test than they typically are at senior level. Let’s say a 2-2 draw this time around, why not.