Brazil vs. Ecuador

Estádio Olímpico Pedro Ludovico, Goiânia, June 27, 2021

Kickoff: 5:00 PM EDT / 6:00 PM BRT / 9:00 PM GMT

US TV / Streaming: FS1, TUDN, Univision

Possible Starting Lineup: Alisson, Emerson, Éder Militão, Marquinhos, Renan Lodi; Fabinho, Douglas Luiz, Everton Ribeiro (Lucas Paquetá); Richarlison, Neymar, Vini Júnior.

Notes And Storylines

I’ve been sick the past few days, so I’ll keep this brief:

  • It looks like Tite will ring the changes once again, giving Douglas Luiz his first minutes of the tournament as well as long-awaited starts for Emerson, Fabinho, and VJ.
  • CONMEBOL fined Tite $5000 for his comments about the poor preparation for the Copa América. Subsequently, in a press conference on Saturday, he evaded questions about the subject with the classic “I don’t want to get fined”, only to subsequently predict that the pitch in the Marcanã, the current venue for the final, will be so bad that they’ll have to change venues, as is currently being attempted for quarterfinal games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio.
  • Felipe has been cut from the squad due to injury, so Bragantino center-back Léo Ortiz (age 25) will join the squad for the knockout stages.
  • As for a prediction? While I’d love to see this more exciting starting lineup tear things up from the off, I expect this is going to be yet another slog until Tite decides to go for the jugular after 60 minutes. Brazil 2-0 Ecuador again seems like a safe bet.