Brazil vs Senegal prediction: WORLD: Friendly International betting tips on match 2023-06-19 19:00.
Following Brazil’s 4-1 thrashing of Guinea in Barcelona, the issue of interim coach Ramon Menezes’ long-term successor will once again take a back seat, as he and his men venture over the Iberian border to Sporting CP’s 50,000-capacity Estádio José Alvalade. Here, they will aim to continue improving an already excellent all-time record against African opposition (W37, D2, L3).
While the most recent of those three losses came only in March (2-1 vs Morocco), there’s no doubting Menezes’ desire to field strong XIs and build momentum – even with three years to go before the inaugural 48-team FIFA World Cup (WC). Notably, no fewer than three Real Madrid players netted against Guinea, and all of them will be looking to make an impact once more.
Saturday’s win also contributed to maintaining Brazil’s comfortable average margin of victory across their friendly wins recorded over the past five years (2.7 goals).The Seleção clearly therefore aren’t ones for slacking off in any circumstances, but opponents Senegal (FIFA Rank: #18) should provide a sterner proposition for the five-time WC winners all the same.
The Lions of Teranga presently sit 61 places better off than the sorely outclassed Guinea in FIFA’s current rankings, and make the approximately 3,500-mile journey from Cotonou unbeaten in seven matches (W5, D2) following a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin (1-1). Within that inspiring run is a success over Algeria in February’s African Nations Championship final.
Significantly, that in itself marks the only time in Senegal’s ongoing unbeaten run where they failed to open the scoring before half-time and then lead at the interval. On a slight downside, coach Aliou Cissé’s glorious 2002 WC debut (W1-0 vs France) remains the most recent time Senegal overcame a non-African team in FIFA’s top-20 over a 90-minute period!
Players to watch: Plundering the opener against Guinea on Saturday, Newcastle dynamo Joelinton took only until the 27th minute to make it a goalscoring international debut for Brazil. Senegal forward Nicolas Jackson has also flourished greatly over the past year, and he too could make his second international appearance of 2023, after netting 12 La Liga goals – half of which were match winners – during Villarreal’s latest campaign.
Hot streak: Brazil haven’t conceded after half-time in any of their ten most recent friendly wins over African sides.