Brazil is one of the high-profile teams in world football, but their performances in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers have been below par. They languish in sixth place on the points table, and are in desperate need of a victory as they face Ecuador on Thursday.
Brazil has played six matches in the qualifiers, but they have only one two so far, which is a huge concern. Not only have they failed to impress in the qualifiers, they have also failed to get past the group stages of Copa America. With such results under their belt, coach Dunga was also sacked recently.
However, Brazil will look for inspiration from their Rio 2016 performance, where they won gold for the first time in the quadrennial event. Dunga's replacement Tite will be hoping for a quality performance from his players after picking some stars from the gold winning squad.
It will be interesting to see the starting XI that Tite puts forward for the match. He will be looking for Barcelona forward Neymar to lead the team from the front.
To be fair, Brazil has been good in the offensive front scoring 11 goals in the qualifiers, but it is their defence which seems to be the problem. They will have to come with a solid all-round game to defeat Ecuador, one of the quality teams.
Ecuador is placed second on the table with four wins and a loss. They will be a confident side facing Brazil on their home turf. Ecuador has lost only two of their last 30 qualifiers at home, which explains their dominance in front of their fans.
Teams find it difficult to face Ecuador at their home due to high altitude, which could work in the home team's favour on Thursday as well.
The hosts will be keen to use their pacy players like Jefferson Montero to pose problems for Brazil, but they are surely going to miss one of their star players, Antonio Valencia. He has been suspended for the clash.
With Ecuador enjoying a superb home form, and Brazil in desperate need of a win, the match has all the ingredients of a classic encounter.
Ecuador vs Brazil live World Cup qualifier is scheduled for a 4 pm local time (2:30 am IST, 9 pm GMT 5 pm ET.)
Live TV and streaming options
India: TV: Sony Six/HD. Live streaming: Sonyliv
Brazil: TV: Globo, Spor TV
Ecuador: TV: Gamavision, RTS Ecuador
Canada, the US, Middle East: TV: Bein Sports, Live streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
