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Brazil are heading into the 2024 Copa America in one of the shakiest and arguably weakest periods in their recent history with the Selecao coming under intense scrutiny back home. They kick off their group stage campaign against Costa Rica.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Tuesday 25th June, 2024 - UK – 2:00am & Monday 24th June, 2024 - US EST – 9:00pm / US PST – 6:00pm
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – Fox Sports & TUDN
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – UniMas, Fubo, DirecTV Stream, Sling Blue, ViX
BRAZIL PREVIEW: UNDERFIRE BRAZILIANS
Brazil legend Ronaldinho has expressed his lack of support for this current Brazil side and been heavily critical of personnel and performances. Dorival Junior is in charge of the five-time world champions but there is a belief that this will likely be his only major tournament.
The Brazilians head into the tournament on the back of a 1-1 draw with the United States in their final warm-up friendly. They have won just five of their last 13 matches with only two of those victories, against Bolivia and Guinea, by more than a solitary goal.
COSTA RICA PREVIEW: REMAINING RESOLUTE
Regular qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup will head into this cross-continental competition with the same gameplan and tactics that they so often do which is to remain as solid as possible and occasional spring forward on the counter attack.
Costa Rica hammered both Saint Kitts and Nevis and Grenada without conceding earlier this month in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification but the Central Americans had defeated just Martinique, El Salvador, Honduras and Saudi Arabia in their previous 17 matches.
BRAZIL TEAM NEWS: FOCUS ON ATTACK
There is a core to this Brazilian team that will concern supporters with Wolves’ Joao Gomes forcing himself into a midfield alongside Bruno Guimaraes and Lucas Paqueta. The real stars of the show are in goal, Alisson, and in attack with Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Militao, Wendell; Joao Gomes, Bruno Guimaraes, Lucas Paqueta; Raphinha, Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
COSTA RICA TEAM NEWS: ADVENTUROUS SELECTION
Costa Rica are expected to play what many may describe as quite an adventurous collection of players with both Orlando Galo and Brandon Aguilera, natural attackers, holding down the two midfield spots in the Costa Rican side.
PREDICTED XI (3-4-3): Patrick Sequeira; Julio Cascante, Juan Pablo Vargas, Francisco Calvo; Joseph Mora, Brandon Aguilera, Orlando Galo, Quiros; Joel Campbell, Alvaro Zamora, Anthony Contreras
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
BRAZIL VS COSTA RICA PREDICTION
This should be a foregone conclusion. Despite their form and despite the concerns that Brazil have about going deep into the competition, they should still get off to a winning start against Costa Rica here. The issue further down the line will be their overall quality against stronger opposition. Costa Rica, though, will still be expected to make things difficult and given the aforementioned difficulties that Brazil have had with blowing teams away, it may be a bit of a tedious watch for the neutral.
BRAZIL VS COSTA RICA TIP: BRAZIL TO WIN & UNDER 3.5 GOALS