Matchplug

This game would be one of the biggest of the week in Brazil as Sao Paolo play host to Internacional.

The home side just suffered their first loss of the season and this game offers them the chance to bounce back to winning ways, but that would be easier said than done.

That first loss did hurt more because it came at the hands of their archrival Palmeiras, but confidence is still high in their camp as they have made a good start to the season with 16 points collected from their last 9 games, and they come into this game sitting in the 4th position on the league table. They are also unbeaten in their last 11 games at home.

Internacional are also not doing badly themselves and they come into this game just a point below their host. For a team that has just been promoted to the first division that is not a bad position to be.

They won their last away game, but that does not mean they do well when they travel as they have lost four of their last six away games and could not even score in five of those games. They come into this game having failed to win Sporting Recife at the weekend at home.

Sao Paulo have lost just 1 of the last 7 meetings between the two, winning 3 times in the process.

Belgium’s first warm-up game ahead of the World Cup was against Portugal and the game lived up to its expectation somehow with a goalless a good result for the two nations.

Considering that Roberto Martinez would be playing against defensive teams in the World Cup, you can understand why they chose to play the Portuguese. Belgium’s next two games would be against Egypt and Costa Rica, a clear indication that they are preparing for their clashes against Tunisia and Panama, it would be interesting to see how they fare against this Africans.

Egypt is also heading to Russia and this game would be their last before their first in the World Cup against Uruguay on the 15th of June.

Considering how talented Uruguay are on the offence, you can understand why the Egyptians have decided to test their mettle against Belgium.

They are, however, currently struggling without Mohamed Salah who is recovering from a dislocated shoulder.

Egypt have been dismal in the build-up to the World Cup with no wins from their last five games. They have also lost to Portugal and Greece so far to show that they are really reliant on Mohamed Salah.

Belgium come into this game on the back of three games without conceding a goal, and 5 cleans sheets in their last six games overall.

The last time these teams met, Egypt won by 4-0.

Nigeria come into this game after a 2-1 loss to England in another warm-up game.

While that scoreline seems like it was a close game, the reality is far from that and the Super Eagles looked really poor defensively and could have been down by four goals in the first half if England had taken all their chances. They did enjoy some attacking play in the second half when Alex Iwobi scored almost immediately after the break, but with such a poor defence, the Super Eagles would achieve little in Russia when the competition begins.

The Czech Republic also come into this game after a shocking defensive show in their last game against Australia as they conceded 4 goals and scored none against the World Cup-bound Aussie team.

Although they would not be playing at the World Cup, that doesn’t mean they should not salvage some pride, and this game offers them another chance to get a win over a World Cup-bound team.

We expect the Czech’s to approach this game from an attacking point of view after watching Nigeria against England, however, there is no guarantee that their defence would shut out the Nigerians.

Nigeria have scored 8 goals in their last ten away games and they have scored at least one goal in three of their last four games.

But they have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight games.

The Czech Republic also have a similar record to their opponents as they have conceded in 9 of their last ten games, and they have scored in all but two of those matches.

This match looks like a World Cup semifinal or quarterfinals, however, these teams have failed to qualify for Russia 2018 and have just begun a major rebuilding work for Euro 2020. The Netherlands finished 3rd behind Sweden in their group stage while the Italians suffered playoffs defeat at the hands of the same Swedes.

If you have a good look at the current options that both teams have, you would realize that their failure to qualify for the World Cup is more than to their fall from grace rather than the brilliance of Sweden.

The retirement of several key players have hit the Netherlands hard and Ronald Koeman seems to have a big job on his hands in terms of bringing back the glory days. The current group have the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Giorgino Wijnaldum who reached the Champions League final, but there is so much inexperience withing them with Justin Kluivert leading a new generation.

Italy have a slightly more experienced squad, however, only Mario Balotelli has more than 6 goals for the Azurris and their midfield is led by Alessandro Florenzi who is the only midfielder in the squad who has more than 10 caps.

The Italians have won two and drawn two of their last five friendly matches against the Netherlands.