Paraguay's Nelson Haedo Valdez (Photo : Reuters)
Brazil and Paraguay will close out the quarterfinals of the 2015 Copa America tournament on Saturday, June 27 at the Estadio Municipal de Concepción in Concepción, Chile.
While Dunga's boys topped their group qualifications, they are still not playing up to the level that is expected of the Pentacampeões. They had 2-1 victories over Peru and Venezuela, but their 0-1 loss to Colombia proved to be the most crucial as they lost team captain Neymar because of his apparent immaturity.
Chelsea's Willian had proven to be an able replacement to Neymar in creating fluid offense. Thanks to the midfielder, the Canarinho actually attempted more goals without Neymar than when the Barcelona star is playing, as per The Guardian.
Paraguay is coming off the group classifications virtually undefeated as they pulled off draws from favorites Argentina and Uruguay and beat guest team Jamaica.
Ramón Díaz's troops are on a roll and their morale is high. La Albirroja toughened itself with the matches against La Albiceleste and La Celeste, and Brazil is weaker than those two teams right now. Los Guaranies really had become the dark horse to win this tournament, as per Sportskeeda.
The prediction is a 2-1 victory for Paraguay over Brazil. Neymar's loss may be too much for the Brazilians. Plus Dunga's hard-nosed, no-nonsense coaching seems to be not fitting well to his players' strengths.
Brazil starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Jefferson; Luís, Luiz, Miranda, Alves; Elias, Fernandinho; Fred, Willian, Firmino; Tardelli
Paraguay starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Silva; Samudio, Aguilar, da Silva, M. Cáceres; Ortiz, V. Cáceres, Ortigoza, Valdez; Santa Cruz, Bobadilla
