Brazil vs Panama Prediction - Can The Canaleros Be A Threat To The All-Powerful Brazil?

Next Tuesday, Brazil will take on Panama at Estádio Serra Dourada in Goiás for another preparation match for the World Cup 2014. The match will be the second international friendly that Brazil will play this year after their hammering win at South Africa by 5-0 last March.

For Brazil’s next match against Panama, the team’s head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari will make some key players rest, since he claimed in a recent interview that some players are still far from their best physical form. Without mentioning the players’ names, Scolari claimed that he will follow the team’s doctors recommendations in order not to jeopardize the presence of such players at the big tournament that is just around the corner.

Brazil will measure forces with Croatia on the World Cup’s opening day, on what might be a crucial match to decide who will win the group and who will follow through to the next round of the competition, but even before that, the Canarinha will go head-to-head with a rival that might have some similarities with their opening day opponents, Serbia.

With three matches in just ten days’ time, Scolari will need to make some wise choices concerning the players he will use on both matches before the clash against Croatia, especially if he does not want to risk any undesired injuries or an increase on the players’ fatigue after such a demanding season for the majority of them.

For the match against Panama, Scolari might keep pushing his successful 4-2-2-2 style. His “awkward” approach is, in fact, a simple variation of the classic 4-4-2 and it is in some sense quite similar to a trendy 4-2-3-1 style. The two all-terrain midfielders Scolari places in front of the four-man defence line allow full backs to be involved in the team’s attacking movements quite frequently, and makes them the main culprits of the majority of the team’s crosses to the box.

As for Panama, the match against Brazil will certainly be a fairly complicated one. Last Saturday, the Canaleros grabbed what one might call an impressive 1-1 draw against Serbia on a match that took place at Toyota Park in Illinois. Hérnan Gómez’s side was and is still not enjoying their best of times, since their last win on official matches was back in March 2013, more than a year ago. Panama only grabbed one win during the third stage of the CONCACAF qualification group and ended second from bottom, only in front of Jamaica.

Despite their recent and somewhat motivating draw against Serbia, Panama will certainly not stand a chance against Brazil, even if the home side’s head coach decides to leave some of his main players out of the match.

Brazil

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0
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Panama

Stats: W-0 L-2 D-3
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Possible Line-ups

Brazil (4-2-2-2) - J. César - Rafinha - David Luiz - Dante - Maxwell - Fernandinho - Ramires - Hernanes - Bernard - Willian - Fred

Panama (4-5-1) - McFarlane - Torres - Rodriguez - Parrish - Chen - Gomez - Barahona - Henriquez - Cooper - Quintero - Munoz

Prediction: Brazil 2 Panama 0