Brazil face Uruguay, Argentina host Peru
After Columbia ended Brazil's nine-match winning run in the South American qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup Finals with a 0-0 draw last Sunday, Neymar and co. will look to bounce back to winning ways as they face Uruguay in front of the home crowd on Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Argentina, who registered a comfortable 3-0 win against Uruguay last Monday, will want to keep up their winning momentum when they face Peru at home.
Argentina will face Peru at 5:30 (BST) while Brazil's game against Uruguay will begin at 6:30am (BST) on Friday.
For Brazil, this, in fact, is set to be their first game in front of a home crowd since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
With nine wins and a draw from 10 games, Brazil sit comfortably at the top of the 10-team table. A win against Uruguay would see their points tally reach to 31, which is more than every team that qualified to the World Cup in fourth position since the current format was put in place in 1998. The Selecao will still have at least another six matches in qualifying after this game.
Brazil's unimpressive 3-1 win at Venezuela and Sunday's 0-0 draw with Colombia did not show the team's backbone and added pressure on playmaker Neymar. But there's no doubt that coach Tite will continue experimenting with his lineup and combinations.
Meanwhile, a win for Lionel Messi's Argentina will see them very close to clinching a World Cup spot as they now sit second in the points table with 22 points from six wins and four draws in their 10 games.
"Beyond winning or losing, what I have been saying and what I will continue to say is that these players are not going to let us down," said Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni when he spoke to the media on Wednesday ahead of the game against Peru.
"There will be matches where we will play better or worse, difficult matches, games that we have to play a different way because the opponent is better but the team dynamics are marked. The people feel identified with us and that's what's the most important thing. The result and everything that comes after is a result of all of this," added Scaloni.
Scaloni also mentioned that he will not be tweaking with the side any more than needed for tomorrow's game.
"It's clear that as long as the team works and gives us positive signals, we don't have to tweak so much. We would only make modifications in question with where the opponent could hurt us. I ask the players not to relax."
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