We have reached Matchday 15 of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying in South America and on the 27th of January we have a meeting between Ecuador and Brazil.
The hosts begin this round of fixtures in 3rd place on 23 points while the visitors are top of the group and have already secured their place in Qatar.
A #SeleçãoBrasileira tá voltando, hein? Equipe vai enfrentar Equador e Paraguai pelas Eliminatórias da Copa e quinta-feira tem convocação. Vamos pra cima!Fotos: Lucas Figueiredo / CBF pic.twitter.com/V4gYvhrwCz— CBF Futebol (@CBF_Futebol) January 11, 2022
A #SeleçãoBrasileira tá voltando, hein? Equipe vai enfrentar Equador e Paraguai pelas Eliminatórias da Copa e quinta-feira tem convocação. Vamos pra cima!Fotos: Lucas Figueiredo / CBF pic.twitter.com/V4gYvhrwCz
Ecuador come into the match having previously been held to a draw away from home in a friendly match against El Salvador.
We cannot read too much into that result in terms of this game and you must go back to the World Cup qualifying match against Chile to find the last meaningful game for Ecuador.
The away fixture in Chile was a tough assignment for Ecuador but they came away with a great 2-0 win. Ecuador opened the scoring after only 9 minutes and following the dismissal of Arturo Vidal, Ecuador added a second goal in the 90th minute to take maximum points.
That was a second successive World Cup qualifying victory for Ecuador having previously defeated Venezuela 1-0 at home.
Their home record in the competition shows 4 games without defeat. There have been wins over Paraguay, Bolivia, and Venezuela plus a draw against Chile.
Trends show Ecuador have succeeded in keeping a clean sheet in their most recent 4 home games in all competitions. Under 2.5 goals have been scored in each of their last 3 World Cup qualifying matches.
Brazil make the trip to the Estadio de Liga Deportiva Universitaria knowing their place at the 2022 World Cup is secure. They have enjoyed a tremendous World Cup qualifying campaign during which they have won 11 of their 13 matched to date.
The only 2 games they have failed to win have ended in a draw meaning Brazil are undefeated.
Their most recent World Cup qualifying fixture came away from home against Argentina and the match ended in a 0-0 draw. That was the second successive draw away from home for Brazil in World Cup qualifying having previously been held to a 0-0 draw at Colombia.
Trends show Brazil have seen under 2.5 goals in 3 of their last 4 away World Cup qualifying games.
Brazil have won by 2 or more goals in their last 3 games against Ecuador in World Cup qualification.
Team news and Ecuador will be looking towards Enner Valencia and Michael Estrada for goals in this game. Alexander Domínguez and Robert Arboleda provide experience at the back.
Brazil have called up a strong squad despite having sealed qualification. Dani Alves and Thiago Silva both have over 100 caps to their name and there is some exciting young talent in attack including Gabriel Jesus, Vinícius Júnior, and Antony.
Ecuador know a win could see them qualify for the World Cup which would be a massive achievement. However, Brazil have been fantastic in this group and they are the clear favourites to take maximum points. We expect to see a Brazil win and under 2.5 goals scored.