Brazil take on Chile this week looking to back up a superb 4-0 away win in Bolivia in their last game, which saw them recover from a poor run of form, drawing three matches and losing two in their last five fixtures. The big piece of team news for Brazil is the inclusion of legend Ronaldinho into the squad. Neymar is likely to retain his place in the side, as speculation over a possible move away from Brazil for the superstar continues to grow on a weekly basis with Barcelona the favourites to sign him from Santos. Talented defender Dede, who has been linked with Manchester United and Liverpool, will also play and is likely to start in the middle of the defence. Brazil will be looking for a marked improvement in the defence of their side, which has been an unfamiliar weakness to the team over their last six games; they have conceded eight goals with defeats to England and Argentina. It is the final chance for the players to impress coach Luis Felipe Scolari ahead of the Confederations Cup this summer and he is expecting the side to back up that solid win over Bolivia. He said as on SI.com:
“We played better than expected against Bolivia and hopefully this team can have another good performance against Chile.”
Chile have been a little hit and miss in their last six fixtures with four wins and two defeats. Their most recent win came against Uruguay 2-0 at home in the last round of World Cup qualifying games, which will give the side immense confidence heading into this friendly match. Jorge Valdivia is struggling to be fit with a right quad injury which is a bitter blow to the Chile midfield, which is bound to come under intense pressure throughout the game. High profile European based player Alexis Sanchez will not play in this friendly match owing to his mid-week club commitments with Barcelona who take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final. The head to head record between the teams does not favour Chile and is heavily stacked in favour of Brazil. Brazil have won the last five meetings in all competitions between these two countries, scoring a staggering 19 goals in the process with their biggest win being a 6-1 away win in Chile during the 2007 Copa America tournament.
