After several of the bigger teams have exited the competition, Brazil are now the bookies joint favourites (along with France), after looking pretty impressive in their games so far despite a slight blip in the opening game against Switzerland. They’ll be looking to pick up a bit of momentum now after successive 2-0 victories.
Mexico provided one of the shocks of the tournament so far in defeating Germany. Their mix of attacking threat and pace has looked electric so far in the tournament although question marks about the quality of their defence have been raised after a 3-0 loss to Sweden in their last group game.
Team News
Brazil make one change from the team that beat Serbia with Filipe Luis replacing Marcelo at left-back who has picked up a back injury apparently to do with a dodgy mattress!
Mexico makes 2 changes from the team that sustained the heavy 3-0 loss to Sweden. With Hector Moreno suspended, Hugo Ayala comes in to replace him at centre-back. Miguel Layun is dropped to the bench with veteran Rafa Marquez returning to the team for his 146th cap. All eyes were on Hirving Lozano to provide the magic in the final third.
Brazil Defend Deep
The first half came as quite the surprise for me Brazil are obviously well known for their silky dribbling skills and their attacking ability, what they are not usually revered for is their ability to defend. The first half looked as if it was about trying to contain Mexico and their dangerous counter-attacks that caused so many problems for the German midfield/defence (despite lacking the end-product).
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