Santos vs Cruzeiro
Sunday 20:00
Our first game on Sunday is a tasty affair as back-to-back champs Cruzeiro make their first away trip of the season to play Santos.
Both teams are coming off the back of disappointing results in their opening fixture; Santos a 1-1 draw to newly promoted Avai and Cruzeiro starting off their season with a home loss to Corinthians.
It is long past time, over a decade, that Santos put together a credible title challenge, the club that has given the world Pele, Robinho (currently back at the club on loan from AC Milan) and Neymar has languished in mid-table for far too long.
Unfortunately, it would be a surprise if this year was that year. The side that finished ninth last season has hardly been supplemented with quality, a 33 year old Elano on a free being an example of their transfer activity.
The famed Santos youth production has some talented youngsters coming through but there is no new Neymar on the horizon or even a Kenedy at Fluminense.
Cruzeiro on the other hand are in an extremely healthy position as a club, the Foxes are coming off back to back titles (not acheived since the Sao Paulo side of 2006-08) and are in the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores, a tournament the club has not won since 1997.
Most familiar to European fans on the away side would be Dede; the 26 year old Brazilian centre back made waves when he moved to Cruzeiro in 2013 from Vasco da Gama for a club record fee, instead of Manchester United as was rumoured at the time.
Dedeckenbauer, as nicknamed by the fans, is an outstanding centre back who has been hit by a serious knee injury and is such likely to miss the game.
Attacking midfielder Willian is one to keep an eye on, not to be confused with Willians in defensive midfield or indeed Willian Farias also at defensive midfield!
This game should be tense, Cruzeiro have been outstanding away from home in the last two seasons and are undefeated in their last five away fixtures.
Not only are the Blues unfeated in their last six against Santos, they have clean sheets in five of those! The last two seasons have seen 1-0 away wins at the Vila Belmiro, back Cruzeiro to make it a hat-trick of single goal victories on Sunday.
Recommended Bets:
Back Cruzeiro to win 1-0 @ 11.50
Back Under 1.5 goals @ 3.00
Internacional vs Avai
Sunday 22:30
The Sunday night game takes us to Porto Alegre where Internacional host Avai in their shiny new stadium.
As mentioned above Avai managed to take a point off Santos on the opening weekend of the season and Internacional were thrashed 3-0 at Atletico Paranaense which has them sitting bottom.
The home side, poor result last weekend notwithstanding, have reason to be positive. A third place finish in the league last season was a solid effort and the Red Nation have a decent squad to have another shot at the crown.
Argentine number 10 Andres D'Alessandro is, as usual, the star of the show while Anderson is looking to get his career back into shape after a disappointing time at Old Trafford.
New signing Lisandro Lopez is a coup if he can reproduce half the form he showed at Porto and Lyon whereas ex-Brazil centre half Juan is still classy at the back.
Avai's squad will be less well known to a European audience, and I daresay some Brazilians having been in Serie B last season.
17 year old Renan Martins is one to watch for the future having played the full 90 last week and Antonio Carlos is a decent if unspectacular defender.
Given Avai's history of playing in the lower leagues, this fixture has not happened too many times in recent years but Internacional have a great record winning five out of six.
With winning, and scoring at least two goals, in eight of the last nine at home allied to their previous record against Avai, the People's Club should have no problem brushing the away team aside.
Recommended Bets:
Back Internacional to win 3-1 @ 14.00
Back over 2.5 goals @ 2.06
Sunday 20:00
Our first game on Sunday is a tasty affair as back-to-back champs Cruzeiro make their first away trip of the season to play Santos.
Both teams are coming off the back of disappointing results in their opening fixture; Santos a 1-1 draw to newly promoted Avai and Cruzeiro starting off their season with a home loss to Corinthians.
It is long past time, over a decade, that Santos put together a credible title challenge, the club that has given the world Pele, Robinho (currently back at the club on loan from AC Milan) and Neymar has languished in mid-table for far too long.
Unfortunately, it would be a surprise if this year was that year. The side that finished ninth last season has hardly been supplemented with quality, a 33 year old Elano on a free being an example of their transfer activity.
The famed Santos youth production has some talented youngsters coming through but there is no new Neymar on the horizon or even a Kenedy at Fluminense.
Cruzeiro on the other hand are in an extremely healthy position as a club, the Foxes are coming off back to back titles (not acheived since the Sao Paulo side of 2006-08) and are in the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores, a tournament the club has not won since 1997.
Most familiar to European fans on the away side would be Dede; the 26 year old Brazilian centre back made waves when he moved to Cruzeiro in 2013 from Vasco da Gama for a club record fee, instead of Manchester United as was rumoured at the time.
Dedeckenbauer, as nicknamed by the fans, is an outstanding centre back who has been hit by a serious knee injury and is such likely to miss the game.
Attacking midfielder Willian is one to keep an eye on, not to be confused with Willians in defensive midfield or indeed Willian Farias also at defensive midfield!
This game should be tense, Cruzeiro have been outstanding away from home in the last two seasons and are undefeated in their last five away fixtures.
Not only are the Blues unfeated in their last six against Santos, they have clean sheets in five of those! The last two seasons have seen 1-0 away wins at the Vila Belmiro, back Cruzeiro to make it a hat-trick of single goal victories on Sunday.
Recommended Bets:
Back Cruzeiro to win 1-0 @ 11.50
Back Under 1.5 goals @ 3.00
Internacional vs Avai
Sunday 22:30
The Sunday night game takes us to Porto Alegre where Internacional host Avai in their shiny new stadium.
As mentioned above Avai managed to take a point off Santos on the opening weekend of the season and Internacional were thrashed 3-0 at Atletico Paranaense which has them sitting bottom.
The home side, poor result last weekend notwithstanding, have reason to be positive. A third place finish in the league last season was a solid effort and the Red Nation have a decent squad to have another shot at the crown.
Argentine number 10 Andres D'Alessandro is, as usual, the star of the show while Anderson is looking to get his career back into shape after a disappointing time at Old Trafford.
New signing Lisandro Lopez is a coup if he can reproduce half the form he showed at Porto and Lyon whereas ex-Brazil centre half Juan is still classy at the back.
Avai's squad will be less well known to a European audience, and I daresay some Brazilians having been in Serie B last season.
17 year old Renan Martins is one to watch for the future having played the full 90 last week and Antonio Carlos is a decent if unspectacular defender.
Given Avai's history of playing in the lower leagues, this fixture has not happened too many times in recent years but Internacional have a great record winning five out of six.
With winning, and scoring at least two goals, in eight of the last nine at home allied to their previous record against Avai, the People's Club should have no problem brushing the away team aside.
Recommended Bets:
Back Internacional to win 3-1 @ 14.00
Back over 2.5 goals @ 2.06
