In the early hours of Friday morning, Brazil entertain Venezuela at Arena Pantanal as both nations bid to strengthen their 2026 World Cup qualification hopes.
As we head into Matchday 3, Brazil and Argentina are level on six points at the summit of the CONMEBOL qualification group.
𝘼𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙨 ⚽🏃#SiempreVinotinto 🇻🇪 pic.twitter.com/yJ46tmUdgn— La Vinotinto (@SeleVinotinto) October 10, 2023
𝘼𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙨 ⚽🏃#SiempreVinotinto 🇻🇪 pic.twitter.com/yJ46tmUdgn
Venezuela, meanwhile, find themselves fifth – three points shy of the top two – having recorded one win and one defeat so far.
Brazil kicked off their campaign with a 5-1 thrashing of Bolivia, courtesy of braces from Neymar and Rodrygo as well as a goal from Raphinha.
Not only did the Brazilians enjoy 80% possession against Bolivia, but they also racked up 21 shots, limiting their visitors to just four attempts.
Last month, Brazil extended their 100% record in World Cup qualifying with a 1-0 victory over Peru, courtesy of a 90-minute winner from Marquinhos.
Remarkably, the Brazilians have avoided defeat in each of their previous 36 World Cup qualifiers, so they will be confident of picking up a positive result against Venezuela.
Venezuela started their qualifying campaign with a 1-0 defeat to Colombia, seeing just 29% of the ball while facing 13 shots.
However, the Venezuelans bounced back with a 1-0 victory over Paraguay last time out, with veteran striker Salomon Rondon scoring the winner from the penalty spot in the 93rd minute.
That said, it is worth noting that Venezuela have lost each of their last 10 World Cup qualifiers away from home, highlighting their struggles on the road.
On top of that, Venezuela have managed to win just six of their previous 38 World Cup qualifiers, so they will likely struggle to upset the odds this time around.
Head-to-head: Brazil are unbeaten in their last 10 meetings with Venezuela, with seven wins and three draws coming since their most recent defeat in 2008.
When you look at the bigger picture, Venezuela have only managed to win two of their 29 previous matches against Brazil since 1959.
Team news: Brazil’s squad is littered with big-name players, including Neymar, Casemiro, Gabriel Jesus, Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior and Bruno Guimaraes.
As for Venezuela, captain Tomas Rincon is set to earn his 127th cap, while Salomon Rondon has scored 40 goals in 98 international appearances.
When you couple Brazil’s record in World Cup qualifying with Venezuela’s poor record in this fixture, all the signs point to an away victory here.
Forebet predicts that Brazil will claim a low-scoring win against Venezuela, with the hosts likely to keep a clean sheet in the process.