Brazil faces Chile in qualifying round with new line-up

Having already secured a spot in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Brazil faces Chile at 8:30 pm (Brasília time) on Thursday (Mar. 24) at Maracanã stadium as part of the qualifying round. The fixture should be Brazil’s last match before its fans, as preparatory games for the World Cup will be held overseas.

Coach Tite’s team leads the South American qualifiers with 39 points, five ahead of second-place Argentina. Chile, on the other hand, ranks sixth, with 19 points.

Experimenting

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In such a comfortable position, Tite will seize the opportunity to do some experimenting. In the attack, for instance, he gave up having a player with the skills of a center-forward—who remains more or less fixed up front—and chose to have Neymar and Lucas Paquetá take turns in the offensive moves, busy in the central part of the attack.

Another experiment in the attack is Antony on one of the ends. The Ajax (Netherlands) striker has played seven times and scored two goals—always joining the game from the bench, however. On the left side, Guilherme Arana is getting his chance. The Atlético-MG player is expected to be allowed to move forward freely and bring into practice one of the main skills he’s known for, support.

Thus, the starting line-up for Brazil against Chile should be: Alisson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, and Guilherme Arana; Casemiro, Fred, and Lucas Paquetá; Antony, Neymar, and Vinícius Júnior.