STAR PREVIEW: Brazil v Paraguay

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Copa America tournament has reached the quarter final stage and incredibly Brazil are third favourites to win it behind hosts Chile and Argentina.

That’s down, in main, to Brazil being without their suspended superstar captain Neymar and the impact that has on their team.

It’s not as if they have been playing badly recently though. Brazil have won 12 of their 13 matches since the World Cup and have not conceded more than one goal in any of those matches.

Brazil have a 17-6 head to head record over Paraguay (10 draws) but were dumped out of this competition at the same stage four years ago by Paraguay.

Brazil won Group C with six points from a possible nine compared to Paraguay who caused a shock when drawing 2-2 in their Group opener before going on to beat Jamaica 1-0 and drawing 1-1 with Uruguay.

Paraguay centre-back Paulo da Silva said: “Brazil remain extremely dangerous even without Neymar. They have had phases where they haven’t played so well, but in short tournaments it’s results that count. They are very good at dead balls and very dangerous. They are here on merit and they will punish any mistakes. We will try to advance to a semi-final, which would be a dream for us and something very special. But we will need to play an almost perfect game to get to the last four.”

Brazil v Paraguay
Copa America 2015 Quarter-Final
10.30pm Saturday PREMIER SPORTS

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
(Maximum 10 matches)
Jul 2011 Copa America Brazil 0-0 Paraguay
Jul 2011 Copa America Brazil 2-2 Paraguay
Jun 2009 World Cup Brazil 2-1 Paraguay
Jun 2008 World Cup Paraguay 2-0 Brazil
Jun 2005 World Cup Brazil 4-1 Paraguay
Jul 2004 Copa America Brazil 1-2 Paraguay
Mar 2004 World Cup Paraguay 0-0 Brazil
Aug 2002 International Brazil 0-1 Paraguay
Aug 2001 World Cup Brazil 2-0 Paraguay
Jul 2001 Copa America Brazil 3-1 Paraguay

TEAM NEWS:

Brazil possible starting lineup:
Jefferson; Alves, Miranda, Thiago Silva, Luis; Elias, Fernandinho; Willian, Coutinho, Robinho; Firmino

Paraguay possible starting lineup:
Villar; Caceres, Da Silva, B Valdez, Piris; Bobadilla, Ortigoza, Benitez, Molinas; Valdez, Barrios

I am favouring Brazil, even without Neymar, and am taking them to be ahead at both half-time and full-time at around 8/5 with Star Sports.

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