FIFA World Cup 2018: Brazil and Mexico will lock horns against each other at Samara Stadium.Brazil vs Mexico, FIFA World Cup 2018: Mexico and Brazil kicked off the round of 16 with high-intensity at the Samara Stadium. El Tri dominated the first quarter of the knockout match. Brazil who took the pitch as the favourites struggled in keeping up with Mexico in terms of possession and speed. Neymar their star player struggled in the first 20 minutes of the match. The Canarinho played the same team but rested injured Marcelo. The Real Madrid left-back was replaced by Atletico Madrid’s Felipe Luis. It is the first match of the tournament for Luis.
It has turned out to be a nerve-wracking World Cup in Russia. Defending champions Germany make a shocking group stage exit, 2010 champions Spain lose to the host country in the round of 16 and the two world’s best players Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi fail to bring the holy grail back home for their respective countries.
WATCH| Brazil vs Mexico LIVE Streaming Online
Mexico has advanced beyond the group stage of the tournament for the seventh consecutive time which is the same number of times as that of the Canarinha. The important caveat, however, is that Mexico has won zero of the six games after qualifying.
Highlights
88’ GOAL! Brazil Puts Mexico Away
Neymar bursts down the left and pokes a shot past Ochoa with his right foot. Ochoa gets a toe on it — just enough to keep it off line — but Firmino is the first man to it in the goalmouth and he buries it. Brazil 2, Mexico 0. And that’ll be that in this one.
51’ GOAL! BRAZIL!
That was pretty. Neymar walked the ball across the top of the area and then, just when it looked like he’d gone to far, backheeled it to Willian. Willian pushed it through into space just to the left of the goal, and his cutback is met by ... Neymar, who never stopped running.
Halftime: Brazil 0, Mexico 0
Mexico will be far more pleased with that half than Brazil, which was the more dangerous team but still had to fight off a couple nervous moments. Brazil is the favorite today though, by a wide margin, so every minute they’re not winning is a minute wasted for them, and a minute of hope for Mexico.
31’: Mexico Takes a Breath
After another foiled attack from Brazil, Alvarez, stalling on a throw at midfield, makes the universal “just chill a sec” signal. Maybe he’s right. He could have been talking to both teams.
Fun Fact
Brazil vs. Mexico: The History
Brazil and Mexico have played four previous matches at the World Cup. Brazil is 3-0-1 in them, and has outscored Mexico by 11-0.
Brazil vs. Mexico Top Story Lines
• Brazil and Mexico surely have seen the papers and the highlights from the weekend’s matches by now. For Brazil, which thinks it can win the tournament, that will mean that contenders keep going out, and they had the best show up ready to be Brazil. For Mexico, it means anything can happen, and that legacy teams (Argentina, Spain, maybe even, oh, I don’t know, Brazil) aren’t owed anything.
• The winner of today’s match gets the Belgium-Japan winner on Saturday in Samara. France or Uruguay looms after that.
• Mexico did everything right for two games to avoid Brazil. Then it got crushed by Sweden in its third game, finished second in its group, and stumbled right into the matchup it had hoped to avoid. Oops.
• Mexico, for all its success against Germany on the opening weekend, has only three goals in three games — one fewer than it has allowed. Hirving Lozano, Carlos Vela and Javier Hernandez each have one.
• Philippe Coutinho leads Brazil with two goals. Neymar only has one.
• Brazil will be without Douglas Costa and maybe Marcelo as well. Brazil’s coach, Tite, said Filipe Luis, who replaced Marcelo after 10 minutes against Serbia, will start in his place against Brazil.
Playing XI: Brazil and Mexico
Marcelo has been rested and Felipe Luis is in.
Brazil looks to be the World Cup favorite after a dominating performance against Mexico. Neymar was all over the field, and his defense appears to be more than up to the task.
Neymar bursts down the left and pokes a shot past Ochoa with his right foot. Ochoa gets a toe on it — just enough to keep it off line — but Firmino is the first man to it in the goalmouth and he buries it. Brazil 2, Mexico 0. And that’ll be that in this one.
Neymar, down again, appears to be asking why the superstar treatment is not in effect today. “Do you know who I am? I’m Neymar!”
That was pretty. Neymar walked the ball across the top of the area and then, just when it looked like he’d gone to far, backheeled it to Willian. Willian pushed it through into space just to the left of the goal, and his cutback is met by ... Neymar, who never stopped running.
Mexico will be far more pleased with that half than Brazil, which was the more dangerous team but still had to fight off a couple nervous moments. Brazil is the favorite today though, by a wide margin, so every minute they’re not winning is a minute wasted for them, and a minute of hope for Mexico.
Brazil’s Filipe Luis joins Alvarez in the referee’s notebook with a lunging toe stab at Vela. Stopped the attack, however, so maybe it was worth it.
And the ticky-tack ankle-clipping portion of the game has begun. The referee Gianliuca Rocchi gives a warning: yellow cards to come.
Double save for Guillermo Ochoa and Mexico! Brazil’s ball feints work again, and result in a pair of shots for Gabriel Jesus and Coutinho. Mexico blocks both, though, and breathes a sigh of relief.
After another foiled attack from Brazil, Alvarez, stalling on a throw at midfield, makes the universal “just chill a sec” signal. Maybe he’s right. He could have been talking to both teams.
Crazy attacking sequence by Mexico there: Vela bad header, Chicharito overhead kick from the sideline to Guardado in the center, one-touch to Vela, cross to Herrera for a shot. Which is blocked.
Feels like we deserved better after all that.
In the “frantically scrambling back to help out at the first sign of danger” statistics, I’m giving Mexico’s midfield the early edge.
The danger for Brazil there, as they lost Chicharito down the left. But they scramble back and Miranda, losing his footing in the area, pokes the ball off his feet just long enough for a teammate to clear.
Marquez has parked himself in front of the center backs, Ayala and Salcedo, as a deep-lying midfielder/forward-covering center back. He’ll be there all day, providing cover and guidance as Brazil charges in.
Mexico gets us going and tries to spring Guardado down the left. But he’s got no option, and ran a bit deep, and then kicks the ball out himself for a goal kick. Mexico will want to be direct again, though. But loner runs like that are easy for Brazil to handle.
Mexico Manager Juan Carlos Osorio, while praising Brazil, hinted his team would approach today’s game much as it did its win over Germany: by acknowledging the opponent’s technical skill, but also running right at them on the counter. “Our footballing style has more to do with creating defensive problems in the opposition line,” he said. “We never throw in the towel and give up on attacking.”
13 Guillermo Ochoa (Standard Liege)
2 Hugo Ayala (Tigres)
3 Carlos Salcedo (Eintracht Frankfurt)
4 Rafael Marquez (Atlas)
11 Carlos Vela (Los Angeles FC)
14 Javier Hernandez (West Ham)
16 Hector Herrera (Porto)
18 Andres Guardado (Real Betis)
21 Edson Alvarez (America)
22 Hirving Lozano (PSV Eindhoven)
23 Jesus Gallardo (Monterrey)
There’s confirmation that Brazil makes only one change, sending out Filipe Luis for the injured Marcelo.
1 Alisson (Roma)
2 Thiago Silva (Paris St Germain)
3 Miranda (Inter Milan)
5 Casemiro (Real Madrid)
6 Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid)
9 Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City)
10 Neymar (Paris St Germain)
11 Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona)
15 Paulinho (Barcelona)
19 Willian (Chelsea)
22 Fagner (Corinthians)
Brazil and Mexico have played four previous matches at the World Cup. Brazil is 3-0-1 in them, and has outscored Mexico by 11-0.
• Brazil and Mexico surely have seen the papers and the highlights from the weekend’s matches by now. For Brazil, which thinks it can win the tournament, that will mean that contenders keep going out, and they had the best show up ready to be Brazil. For Mexico, it means anything can happen, and that legacy teams (Argentina, Spain, maybe even, oh, I don’t know, Brazil) aren’t owed anything.
• The winner of today’s match gets the Belgium-Japan winner on Saturday in Samara. France or Uruguay looms after that.
• Mexico did everything right for two games to avoid Brazil. Then it got crushed by Sweden in its third game, finished second in its group, and stumbled right into the matchup it had hoped to avoid. Oops.
• Mexico, for all its success against Germany on the opening weekend, has only three goals in three games — one fewer than it has allowed. Hirving Lozano, Carlos Vela and Javier Hernandez each have one.
• Philippe Coutinho leads Brazil with two goals. Neymar only has one.
• Brazil will be without Douglas Costa and maybe Marcelo as well. Brazil’s coach, Tite, said Filipe Luis, who replaced Marcelo after 10 minutes against Serbia, will start in his place against Brazil.
Mexico is looking to avoid its seventh straight second-round exit from the World Cup. But it has to wonder if it lost its momentum in its collapse against Sweden. This is the fourth game in two weeks for each team, and the weekend games showed the heavy legs starting to show up — especially in the two games that went to extra time.
Samara is the venue for this meeting between Brazil and Mexico, with a place in the quarter-finals against Belgium of Japan up for grabs. Having made it through their group by the skin of their teeth despite a strong and impressive start to the tournament, Mexico will be hoping to record their first-ever victory over Brazil in six encounters between the sides and in a World Cup full of surprises, El Tri will fancy their chances.
Marcelo has been rested and Felipe Luis is in.
Did you know that Brazil are the reigning Olympic champions (2016, Rio) while Mexico won the Olympics gold medal beating the Canarinhos in the final (2012, London).
Both the strikers have managed to find the net just once in this tournament for their respective country so far. However, Neymar is leading with the number of shots on target and passes completed. Both Neymar and Hernandez will play a pivotal role today to help their team advance to the quarters.