Defending Copa America champs Chile may have taken until late in the match to score their goals in a 2-0 home win over Brazil, but they dominated much of that match, leaving Brazil looking like a reeling side heading into their second qualifier against Venezuela.
It may only be the second round of World Cup qualifying, but already the pressure is mounting on five-time champion Brazil and particularly coach Dunga. “We have the best players for Brazil, but, unfortunately, we don’t have time to prepare the team”, Pele told reporters, as quoted by FourFourTwo.
The Selecao will meet Venezuela at Fortaleza’s Castelao Arena on Tuesday, five days after their 0-2 loss to Chile in Santiago. Not as surprising as Argentina’s defeat against Ecuador but surprising nonetheless, considering Brazil is always a favorite in any global competition. Venezuela also started with a loss, stumbling 0-1 at home to Paraguay, Xinhua reported.
Paris Saint-Germain will have to make do without goalkeeper Kevin Trapp for up to six weeks, whilst centre-back David Luiz could join the German on the sidelines after picking up an injury playing for Brazil. The Barcelona superstar is serving a four-match suspension handed during the 2015 Copa America. According to ESPN, Brazil’s manager will not change everything for the fixture against Venezuela, a much weaker opponent. “It would give us three points and that’s what we want”. Individually we have the best players but as a team we’ve a lot of problems.
This came on the back of the embarrassment by Germany and their subsequent third place play-off defeat to Netherlands. Thiago Silva, meanwhile, having been first stripped of the captaincy under Dunga, has now been dropped from the squad entirely after giving away a penalty in Brazil’s defeat to Paraguay at the Copa America.
Watch Brazil vs. Venezuela live streaming on Tuesday, October 13 HERE.
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