Brazil vs Argentina Prediction and Betting Tips: Back Mac Allister to be carded in Rio
South American rivals Brazil and Argentina lock horns in a World Cup qualifier in the early hours of Wednesday morning and we’ve asked Anthony Eadson to provide us with his best bets for the game from the Maracana.
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After five matches so far in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying Brazil have collected a disappointing seven points. Failure to win in this final game of the year for the Selecao could potentially see them drop out of the automatic qualification spots, which would be quite astonishing with the high standards which they normally set.
Argentina remain at the top of the standings, despite defeat last time out to Uruguay. That loss to Marcelo Bielsa’s side was the first time that the Sky Blues have been beaten on home soil by Uruguay since 1987, however a win here in Rio would be their third consecutive victory against their bitter rivals Brazil.
Brazil vs Argentina Tips
All is not well in Brazil. Copa Libertadores winning manager Fernando Diniz was drafted in as interim manager in the summer, but has struggled to find any sort of consistency with the national side.
In October Brazil could only muster a 1-1 draw at home to Venezuela, before a defeat away in Uruguay where Darwin Nunez grabbed the headlines for a stunning performance where he scored one and provided an assist for another in a 2-0 win in Montevideo.
Most worryingly though, Brazil were beaten 2-1 away at Colombia last week and worse still, they will be without the services of several key players for the meeting with Argentina. Vinicius Junior, Richarlison, Neymar and Casemiro are all on the treatment table, which doesn’t bode well considering they have failed to score in each of their last three matches against the World Champions.
Despite the loss to Uruguay, Argentina have won eight of their nine matches since lifting the World Cup in Qatar. At 43/20 with BetMGM (3.15), the visitors are worth taking a punt on here and I’m surprised to not see them priced more around the 13/8 region.
Regular readers of bettingodds.com will be aware that I recommended Alexis Mac Allister to be carded in the ill-tempered game with Uruguay last week. The midfielder managed to find his way into the book and I’m backing a repeat here with 11/4 on show with Sky Bet.
I expect this game to get heated with plenty of cards and it seems the bookmakers agree, with Sky going just 10/11 that there are 70+ booking points! Since the start of the 2023/24 campaign Mac Allister has collected seven cards in just 17 starts and at the current prices he makes plenty of appeal here for his eighth.
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