Having watched a number of South American qualifying matches and Brazils recent Confederations Cup victory I am very excited about the a prospect of the forthcoming Argentina v Brazil match.
Argentina have moved the fixture away from their traditional ground in order to give their players the best chance, both physically (due to the altitude) and mentally (the pitch is much closer to the stands).
Whether it will work or not is debatable. I can not see Brazil losing this match, and therefore, Argentina will not win. A feature of Brazils recent play has been their ability to counter attack successfully. If Argentina are struggling for a win towards the end of the match then Brazil will steal a march on them.
The key battle will be between Javier Zanetti and the Brazilian left back. I say ‘the Brazilian left back’ because I am unsure who Dunga will select; Santos, Dani Alves, Maicon or A.N. Other. My money would be on Dani Alves for the reason that he plays against Messi everyday in training and has the pace required to get up and down the pitch.
If Zanetti, a man in the twilight of his career, is to support Messi and draw either Silva or Melo into support the left back, thereby creating space for Veron, he needs to be able to be able to race back and stop any developing attack. I can see Brazil having a lot of joy down Argentina’s right and, as such, Zanetti will be vitally important.
I don’t think he’s up to it and Brazil will either draw or, more likely, beat Argentina. We’ll see at 1:30am for what will be a cracking match.
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