The fierce rivalry between Brazil and Argentina will hit fever pitch when Lionel Messi\u2019s world champions face the struggling host in a mouth-watering South American World Cup qualifying clash in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Five-time World Cup winner Brazil will rely on its fans in a sold-out Maracana stadium to give it an extra boost to recover after losing back-to-back games in the qualifying competition for the first time in its history.<\/p>\n
As it struggles with injuries to key players like Neymar and Vinicius Jr, caretaker manager Fernando Diniz must resort to a young team against Argentina but one that he guarantees will stay true to Brazil\u2019s identity even against a great like Messi.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure, you can\u2019t not worry about a player of that magnitude. But we have to play our game as we try to contain all the creative capacity he has,\u201d Diniz told a press conference on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cDealing with Messi is obviously different and you have to worry. It\u2019s impossible not to worry about a player of his stature and the decision-making power he has.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diniz said he expected a great but heated atmosphere at the Maracana, with the fans looking forward to Brazil avenging the Copa America final defeat by Argentina two years ago.<\/p>\n
Winless in the last three games, Brazil has dropped to fifth in the South American standings on seven points from five games after losing 2-1 to Colombia on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It is under heavy pressure as it prepares for long-time rival Argentina, which tops the standings on 12 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope we play well and the fans can play along with the team creating a great environment,\u201d Diniz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are prepared to play a team that, if they are not the best (team in the wold), they are one of the best. And they have been for a while, not just because they won the World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have players in the biggest leagues, used to the limelight. And there\u2019s Messi … It\u2019s a team that\u2019s been playing well for a long time, a winning cycle and one that has maintained its base.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe acknowledge that and we\u2019re going to prepare to do our best against a great opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nComments\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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With injuries to key players Neymar and Vinicius Jr, caretaker manager Fernando Diniz must resort to a young team against Argentina but one that he guarantees will stay true to Brazil\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sport-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}