Stingy Russians restrict Brazil to one goal

Following the weekend’s action we are treated to another round of international action.  Just as they did before the weekend’s action, Brazil played a friendly the day before the rest of the world’s competitive international action.

As hosts of the 2014 World Cup, Brazil do not have to qualify for the finals, and appear to be suffering from a lack of competitive action.  They have been taking on some of the top European teams to give their matches a more competitive edge.

Having managed to score two goals against a traditionally strong Italian defence on Thursday, Brazil could only muster a late equaliser against a Russian defence which is yet to concede in World Cup Qualifying matches – the only team in the world to have done so.

Russia opened the scoring with a goal which raised serious questions over a Brazilian defence lead by the highly rated duo of David Luiz and Thiago Sila.   Despite managing to block two of the Russians shots, the fact that 6 Brazilian defenders could do nothing to clear 6 Russian passes played within the 18 yard box, eventually resulting in a goal by Victor Fayzulin, will be of huge concern to coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. 

Also of great concern to Scolari will be that he is winless in his first 3 matches in charge of Brazil, although all have been tough fixtures on European soil, against England, Italy and now Russia.

While any game involving Brazil is always a treat, it was merely an appetizer for tonight’s action.

In Europe, the most enticing match up appears to be between World and European champions Spain, and neighbouring European heavyweight France.  What makes the game all the more enticing is the circumstances of the fixture.

Having dropped 2 points to Finland in their last fixture, Spain are two points behind France.  They failed to beat France at home, with a late goal from Oliver Giroud now putting pressure on Spain to beat the French in the Stade de France tonight in order to move into the automatic qualification position at the top of the group.

If they fail to top the group, they face the prospect of a two legged qualifier against one of the other European runners up.  If they lost the qualifier, they would be the first ever World Cup winners not to be present at the next finals to defend their title, mainly because this will be the first year that the defending World Cup winners do not automatically qualify for the event.

Elsewhere in the world, another set of neighbours are squaring up in North America, as the USA take on Mexico.  This is a rivalry which grows as the game grows in popularity in the USA, and the results over the last ten years have become much more even, with the USA even managing to record a friendly win on Mexican soil for the first time last year.  The Mexicans will be looking to avenge that defeat.

In the South American qualifying section, Argentina look set to qualify, however they face one of the toughest away trips in football, to Bolivia, where the match will be played at an altitude of 3,000 metres above sea level.

Such conditions are draining for anyone unacclimatised to them, however unlike the last qualification campaign where Argentina lost 6-1 to the unheralded Bolivians, there are still plenty of games for Argentina to make up any lost points.