Marching on continued...

As promised here is another preview of a World Cup 2010 match. This time I am casting my eyes over the all South American clash between Chile and Brazil.

Brazil v Chile, Kick-Off 730pm UK time.
Defence
Quite on the contrary to the tradition of Brazil's teams of the past this Brazil team are exceptionally strong at the back. Julio Cesar of Inter Milan in goal is now viewed by many pundits as the finest Goalkeeper in the world at present and with Casillas and Buffon in seeming decline I would agree. In front of him is the centre back pairing of Lucio and Juan. Lucio was outstanding in Inter Milan's Champions League victory campaign last year, Chelsea fans will surely remember the way he completely nullified Europe's best striker Didier Drogba in their match. Juan has also been impressive when not injured at Roma and their partnership has been going for the best part of 5 or 6 years now, meaning they have a wonderful understanding of their responsibilities. At right-back Brazil have to choose between the 2 finest players in the world in that position, with Dunga preferring Maicon over Dani Alves. Maicon was a relatively slow developer in modern terms, only really emerging in the last 2 or 3 years as a fine full-back, and I personally think his extra defensive ability means that Dunga is right to give him the nod over Alves. At left-back is where I see Brazil's potential weak spot. Michel Bastos plays as a winger for Lyon in France and is very suspect defensively for me. Chile's best player Alexis Sanchez plays right-wing and I would expect that to be an area Chile look to exploit.

Marcelo Bielsa always has his teams playing in a 3-3-1-3 formation. This allows his full backs to really attack as he thinks he only needs 3 defenders to mark the oppositions attackers. He also looks to defend in the opponents half, with a lot of pressing a feature of the Chile teams play. 2 of Chile's most important defensive players are missing for this match though and this hands Brazil a huge advantage. Waldo Ponce is the man tasked with beinf aerially dominant for Chile and Gary Medel is the Javier Mascherano style shield for them. With both of these out I would expect to see Brazil run riot, as they did in 3-0 and 4-2 victories in qualifying.

Midfield
Brazil, similarly to Holland, play with 2 defensive midfielders to allow the forwards to buzz around without being side-tracked by defending! This is something the coach Dunga has been widely criticised for in Brazil, being seen to be overly negative. However, the results say that he has been justified as they are beating everyone put in front of them (with the exception of Portugal when fielding an understrength team). Gilberto Silva and Felipe Melo are the 2 players given this task and are perfectly suited. Melo is the master of anticipating through-balls and sprinting to intercept them before they reach their target. Silva simply sits in front of the defence being a nuisance to the oppositions attackers! Elano is the link man for them and is a Dunga favourite. When the mood takes him he is a magnificent player and Dunga seems to get the best out of him.
Chile have 1 defensive midfielder and then 2 attacking full-backs, 2 wingers, an attacking midfielder and 2 attackers. Making for generally very exciting games played on the front foot! As already mentioned Alexis Sanchez of Udinese is the young star on the right-wing and will surely see a lot of the ball. With my concerns over Bastos defensively it will be here that I think Chile will get most joy. George Valdivia has also impressed at this tournament and will need to impress again if Chile are to stand a chance here. Carmona, Vidal and Mark Gonzalez(ex-Liverpool) make up the team here and are all in decent form.

Attack
Here is where Brzil really coma alive the way everyone expects! Luis Fabiano is the central striker with a 1 in 2 goalscoring record at this level. Robinho and Kaka are the players behind him looking to tease the defenders and create opportunities. I have been very disappointed with Kaka so far having always been a big fan. He looks unfit and slightly overweight to me. Robinho has been my star man so far. He looks dangerous everytime he is on the ball and has all the ability in the world. Like Elano Dunga seems to be able to coax something approaching his maximum from him in a way successive Man City bosses could not. If Bielsa sticks with his 3 at the back (and I expect him to) expect plenty of chances coming Fabiano's way and I can see him getting 2 at least.
Chile play with Humberto Suazo up front usually, but he came into the tourament injured and looks miles off the pace unfortunately. Orellana, Paredes and Beausejour have all played a part so far and I expect 1 of those to partner Suazo as he is still their best hope for a goal.

Betting
Brazil are around 1/2 to win it in 90 minutes and I think that's easy money. I would also back them to cover a one goal handicap at around 9/10. For a bit more value maybe a Draw/Brazil in the Half-Time/Full-Time market. You can get around 9/2 and Brazil have been taking a while to hit their stride in games of late. With both teams capable of attacking very well and Fabiano back on form I would look at over 3.5 goals too at around 11/4 widely available.