It’s a busy week for the various Seleções, and since it’s looking like a busy week for me too, I’m writing up a single, huge preview rather than one for both matchdays.

Let’s start with the side that’ll get the most column inches from me, the senior team.

Brazil vs. Argentina

King Saud University Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 15, 2019

Kickoff: 12:00 PM EDT / 2:00 PM BRT / 5:00 PM GMT

US TV / Streaming: BeIN Sports

Likely Starting Lineup: Alisson; Danilo, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Alex Sandro; Casemiro, Arthur, Coutinho; Willian, Roberto Firmino, Gabriel Jesus.

Brazil vs. South Korea

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE, November 19, 2019

Kickoff: 8:30 AM EDT / 10:30 AM BRT / 1:30 PM GMT

US TV / Streaming: BeIN Sports

Likely Starting Lineup: Too early to say, though supposedly it will be heavily rotated

Notes and Storylines:

Is anybody surprised that Tite is picking his Safest Possible Lineup to face Argentina? Of course not. With every FIFA date since the Copa América, Tite has decided to treat one match as a “final”, to be played with what he feels is his strongest team, rotating in some different faces for the other game. Against Argentina, inevitably, the pattern continues, as does Tite’s absolutely glacial pace when it comes to phasing in new players. Coutinho is still in a funk for club and country, but he remains a starter in big games. Alex Sandro has been roundly horrible for Brazil since the Copa América, and Renan Lodi delivered a very encouraging performance in his stead against Nigeria, but it’s the former who looks like he’ll start against Argentina. Thiago Silva, good as he remains, is still being treated like he’ll be playing for a decade to come. Willian, of all people, has a bit more reason for being here, since Neymar, Everton Cebolinha, and David Neres are all unavailable and he’s clearly outperformed the likes of Felipe Anderson and Lucas Moura this season, but even so, I consider his inclusion in the squad to be a fireable offense. It’s hard to see this lineup improving upon Brazil’s recent performances—we’re still winless since the Copa América.

And we’re facing an Argentina side in menacing form. Since finishing (an arguably encouraging) third at the Copa América, they’ve thrashed Mexico 4-0 and Ecuador 6-1 and come from 2-0 down to draw Germany, substantially outperforming and outscoring Brazil in that time frame. But let’s be frank: is anybody really expecting that Argentina to show up against Brazil? Those impressive showings all happened without Lionel Messi or Sergio Agüero, which is certainly encouraging for the team’s future, but you can always count on Argentina to pull out their big guns to face Brazil—and that means the coach is shoehorning Messi and Agüero into the lineup, which will inevitably throw everything out of balance and hamstring the attack. There’s a good chance that, other than the goalkeeper, Argentina’s starting XI on Friday will be exactly the same as the one that faced Brazil during the Copa América. In that game, they soundly outplayed Brazil in midfield but struggled to create chances of note, registering more total shots but fewer shots on target than we did and ultimately losing 2-0. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that history will repeat itself. Brazil will win 2-0.

The South Korea game might be a more interesting watch if it wasn’t during everybody’s morning commute. Globo claims that Tite will make more changes than he usually does for that game, getting in some last experiments ahead of World Cup qualifying next March. (If it were up to me, he would’ve been doing that since the end of the Copa América, but what do I know?) There are some pretty intriguing names on the bench, some of which might even receive some playing time! Here are a few I’m curious to see:

  • Rodrygo: Fresh off becoming the second-youngest player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League, the 18-year-old is getting his first chance with the national team. And with a depleted crop of wingers around him, the odds are good for him to get some playing time. But something tells me he won’t start against South Korea, that Tite will opt to retain at least one of the starters up front from the Argentina game, and that he’ll bring in Richarlison on the wing before he brings in Rodrygo. But I do expect Rodrygo to at least come off the bench, which is more than I can say about some of the others on this list.
  • Emerson: With two goals and three assists in 10 games for Real Betis, Emerson is starting to look like the right-back we’ve been searching for ever since Maicon first faced Gareth Bale. The 20-year-old was a surprise inclusion in the squad for these matches, but with Tite omitting Dani Alves and all other Brazil-based players, it’s the perfect opportunity to give him a taste of the Seleção. Tite has been enormously reluctant to give any right-backs not named Dani Alves, Danilo, or Fagner a try, but Danilo is a known quantity, and unless he has a truly spectacular game against Argentina, I think we’ll see Tite giving Emerson a start against South Korea.
  • Renan Lodi: I mentioned above how promising Lodi looked against Nigeria, so I’m not going to repeat myself here. More than almost anybody else here, I think he’s a lock to start against South Korea. He’s already done well in one start, and Alex Sandro has been disappointing in the position.
  • Fabinho: It’s hard to say what we can expect to see of the Liverpool star. On the one hand, it’s the perfect opportunity to bench Casemiro and give Fabinho a full game as the defensive midfielder. On the other, Tite has been so reluctant to use Fabinho as a midfielder, and he was so bad in his last appearance against Peru, that I wouldn’t be surprised if even in a throwaway game he only gets garbage minutes. Maybe the screamer he scored against Manchester City last weekend will help his case.
  • Wesley: I’m not expecting the Aston Villa number 9 to get much playing time, but his last-minute inclusion, in the place of the injured David Neres, was an eyebrow-raiser, not least because it wasn’t a like-for-like swap, which is rare for Tite. My theory is that Gabriel Jesus’ penalty miss last week spooked Tite out of his plan to use him as a number 9, and so when Neres had to be cut he called up a new striker to back up Roberto Firmino. Again, I don’t expect him to get much time, if he gets any at all, and he’s probably not Seleção caliber quite yet, but I’ve been saying for ages that Tite’s tactical setup seems to be crying out for a player like him: a big, powerful target man who has the muscle to hold up the ball and get on the end of crosses into the box.
  • Douglas Luiz: Wesley’s Aston Villa teammate is, similarly, not the finished article, but he’s been excellent for the U-23 side and has scored some spectacular goals this season. I’d hope Arthur is one of the players who starts both games, but I certainly expect that Douglas will replace him at some point against South Korea.

In any case, I’m also predicting a 2-0 win over South Korea in the finest Tite style (i.e., leaving the game feeling vaguely dissatisfied with the performance and margin of victory), and in the finest Tite style, I’m probably being too optimistic there.

Anyways, let’s move on to the U-17s, who are about to play the most important games of their lives so far.

U-17 World Cup Final Stages

Estádio Bezerrão, Gama, Brazil

Semifinal: Brazil vs. France, November 14

Kickoff: 6:00 PM EDT / 8:00 PM BRT / 11:00 PM GMT

US TV / Streaming: FS2

Final: Brazil vs. Mexico, November 17

Kickoff: 5:00 PM EDT / 7:00 PM BRT / 10:00 PM GMT

US TV / Streaming: FS2

Notes and Storylines:

The kiddos will be in for a very tough test in these final two games. France are the only team other than Brazil to win all their games so far, and they’ve been more impressive in the knockout stages than Brazil have, sweeping aside Australia 4-0 and Spain 6-1. While undeniably good, this Brazil side has been arguably a touch sloppy, struggling to control games and score as many goals as it feels like these players could. If there’s any side that can punish that, or just simply outplay Brazil, it’s France.

Regardless, we’ll get another game on Sunday, and invariably that matchup will be tough. The Netherlands were the worst third-placed team to still advance to the knockout rounds, where they suddenly began to click, sweeping aside perennial favorites Nigeria and a very strong Paraguay side. Mexico had a similarly poor group stage, and they’ve had narrower wins against Japan and South Korea in the knockout stages, but this is a nation that inevitably ups its game whenever it faces Brazil at any level.

Last but not least, the U-23s are playing some games themselves.

Brazil U-23 at the Tenerife Tournament

Estadio Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Spain

Semifinal: November 14 at 6:00 PM EDT / 8:00 PM BRT / 11:00 PM GMT vs. United States

Final: November 17 at 2:45 PM EDT / 4:45 PM BRT / 7:45 PM GMT vs. Argentina

US TV / Streaming: Should be available on YouTube

Notes and Storylines:

This is the last set of games before January’s Pre-Olympic Tournament, and the U-23 side is starting to look a little fractured. Big names like Rodrygo and Renan Lodi did not get the green light from their clubs to play with the U-23s, so they’ve been moved straight to the senior side, and stalwarts like Douglas Luiz are starting to join them. Add in injuries to important players like Antony and Bruno Guimarães and this team starts to look pretty different from the one that took to the pitch last month or the month before that—but it might be a bit more representative of what we’ll have to work with at the Pre-Olympic Tournament, where clubs will undoubtedly withhold their star players from participating.

A matchup with Argentina is always a mouthwatering possibility, though it’s worth noting that the Canary Islands team would be a senior side, not a U-23 side. It’d be an interesting test if nothing else, and if they can beat Argentina, they’re surely worthwhile opposition. Obviously, that hinges on whether we can beat the United States, which is the expectation but not a given.