Brazil plod along coachless

Brazil plod along coachless

International football, mainly European Championship qualifiers, Cup of Nations qualifiers, and friendlies headline the various TAB soccer pools and while there may seem to be a good number of banker bets, don’t be surprised to see more upsets than anticipated.

By Mark Gleeson

The last batch of European Championship qualifiers will be completed tonight with a host of bankers, but the possibility of an upset or two.

There are also intriguing friendlies for footballing superpowers Brazil and Germany, which comes at a time of uncertainty for both former World Cup winners.

Brazil are still without a permanent coach since Tite’s departure after their World Cup disappointment in Qatar.

They are now six months without someone at the helm as the under-20 team boss Ramon Menezes acts as the interim coach of the seniors too. It is hardly the ideal situation for a country like Brazil, who are still trying to persuade the Italian Carlo Ancelotti to leave Real Madrid to coach their national team.

Brazil lost a friendly against Morocco in March but on Saturday had a 4-1 win over another African opponent, Guinea, in their friendly in Spain. Tonight, they are up against a tougher challenge from the continent as they take on Cup of Nations holders Senegal in Lisbon.

It was interesting to see Senegal – who have already qualified for next January’s Afcon tournament in the Ivory Coast – resting many of their regulars for their Cup of Nations qualifier away in Benin on Saturday. Sadio Mane did play but many others will presumably come back into contention to try and ensure a strong Senegal line-up that could pose a real threat to Brazil.

Germany had a miserable World Cup in Qatar and have since struggled under coach Hansi Flick, the former Bayern Munich boss.

As hosts of the next Euro finals this time next year, they are playing friendly internationals to best prepare for the tournament. Over the last week they lined up three prep games, but looked anything but potential continental champions in 12 months’ time.

They were 1-3 down to Ukraine at home last week and needed late goals to force a 3-3 draw before losing 0-1 to Poland in Warsaw last Friday. Now they host Colombia in Gelsenkirchen in another game where their first priority will be to grind out a result to boost morale. But given how poorly the Germans are playing, it might be another night of frustration for their supporters.

In the Euro 2024 qualifiers, Austria have jumped out of the starting blocks at some pace with seven points from their first three games. Whether that is a false dawn or the start of a new era, will become evident tonight against Sweden.