Next Wednesday, March 5, 2014 (9:00 AM Pacific), the World Cup hosts Brazil will travel to Johannesburg to play against South Africa in another preparation match for next June’s competition. The match will take place at the FNB Stadium (Soccer City), which was the venue of the 2010 FIFA World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands.
Brazil, who are currently on a six-match winning row, are enjoying a good moment and the team seems to be on a clear crescendo after the bumpy start that marked the return of Luiz Felipe Scolari to the Canarinha back in 2012.
Scolari’s side, which will face Croatia, Mexico and Cameroon on the group stage for the 2014 World Cup, took great care in choosing their next three opponents for the team’s friendly matches. Apart from next Wednesday’s match against South Africa, Brazil will also go head-to-head against Panama and Serbia, teams that according to CBF, have identical game styles to Brazil’s opponents at the World Cup.
After his return to the Brazilian National Squad, Scolari experienced some difficulties in finding a tactical scheme that fitted properly in such a group of talented players. He started with a 4-2-3-1 style that proved to be ineffective both on attacking and defensive movements. After the friendly match against Russia in London, where Brazil was somewhat “tamed” during a great part of the match, Scolari decided to change his approach and the team started to play on a flexible variation of the 4-4-2 scheme, presenting themselves in something similar to a 4-2-2-2, with two midfield lines close to each other and two very active wing backs on the team’s attacking movements.
As for South Africa, this match is undoubtedly a good opportunity to help supporters to forget their nation’s poor World Cup qualification and the African Nations Championship campaigns.
The Bafana Bafana’s head coach, Gordon Igesund, wants to take the opportunity of playing against the five-time World champions to motivate his players to produce a similar performance to the one they had against Spain.
The Kaiser Chiefs’ players Siphiwe Tshabalala and Bernard Parker are probably the team’s best assets currently. The team’s forward, Bernard Parker, is enjoying a fantastic moment, as he has scored five goals on his last four appearances for his National Team and he will certainly present a good test to Brazil’s sometimes fragile back line.
Brazil vs South Africa Prediction
Despite of the fact of playing at home, South Africa probably doesn’t have what it takes to stop a Brazilian side on a clear form crescendo. This being said, the most like outcome for the Brazil vs South Africa match is a 3-1 victory for Brazil.
Brazil vs South Africa Television
The Brazil vs South Africa match will be televised on beIN Sports USA.
