Brazil – Zambia

Brazil continues its friendly tour against Zambia in Beijing today, on neutral venue. The Selecao are on a fantastic run under Luis Felipe Scolari, winning 9 of the last 10 games played, including a 2-0 win in Seoul over hosts South Korea just 4 days ago. Brazil is treating these friendly games almost like official matches, since they did not take part in the World Cup qualifiers and want to be at their absolute best when the 2014 World Cup will kick off next year in their own country.

Zambia progressed a lot in the last years and they have been in good form overall in 2013, losing only two games. They did register a lot of draws instead, and they lost in their last outing 2-1 to Ghana. This has been dubbed as the match of the century for Zambia and they will try to achieve an honorable result, mainly based on their solid defense. Not much else to say about the africans. They have no notable missings for this game but they are without a permanent head coach after Herve Renard left to Sochaux.

Team news: Luis Felipe Scolari will operate some changes to his first eleven, just like in the game against South Africa, but the squad is filled with quality all over the place. Neymar and Oscar will almost surely start again after netting the 2 goals in the win against South Korea.

Goalkeepers: Jefferson (Botafogo), Diego Cavalieri (Fluminense), Victor (Atlético Mineiro)

Defenders: David Luiz (Chelsea), Dante (Bayern Munich), Dede (Cruzeiro), Henrique (Palmeiras), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Maicon (Roma), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Maxwell (PSG)

Midfielders: Paulinho (Tottenham), Hernanes (Lazio), Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Ramires (Chelsea), Lucas Leiva (Liverpool), Oscar (Chelsea), Lucas Moura (PSG)

Forwards: Hulk (Zenit), Neymar (Barcelona), Bernard (Shakhtar), Jo (Atletico Mineiro), Alexandre Pato (Corinthians)

Zambia will give it its best and I am not underrating this African side one bit, but Brazil has been fantastic in all the friendlies they played, showing no mercy to any opponent, winning with big margins against almost everyone and playing at full throttle for the whole 90 minutes. They will peg at the Zambian defense until they get the goal, and then the game should open up a little bit. With the quality gap being enormous, a 2 goal handicap should be well within Brazil`s reach. My prediction is Brazil – Zambia 3-0.

Pick: Brazil (-2,5)
Odds: 1.74 @ Pinnacle
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.92
Event date: 15 October

Editor Facts

• Ocean`s stats in International matches since June are 4 won, 1 void and 1 lost