Preview: Brazil vs. Guinea - prediction, team news, lineups

Meanwhile, Guinea head into the fixture at Espanyol's RCDE Stadium having just suffered a narrow defeat to African giants Egypt.

Match preview

Ahead of participating in last year's World Cup, Brazil had been on a 15-match undefeated streak and were playing under a manager in Tite who dreamed of ending his lengthy stint in charge with the Jules Rimet Trophy.

However, Selecao are now a team without a permanent manager and having won just one of their last four fixtures, losing a penalty shootout to Croatia in the World Cup quarter-finals and succumbing to Morocco in a March friendly.

Ramon Menezes, the nation's Under-20 boss, has been tasked with temporarily leading Brazil through a transitional period before they reach a final decision over a permanent alternative to Tite.

Nevertheless, despite the matches with Guinea and Senegal on June 20 representing three friendlies in a row, they are far from meaningless matches with form needing to be regained and uncapped players requiring experience in the national team setup.

Like with the Morocco clash, Menezes has named a wide array of uncapped players - six in total on this occasion - but he will also be calling upon the nation's star men to get the squad back on track.

From Guinea's perspective, they face one of the world's most formidable teams having posted just three wins from their most recent 10 outings in all competitions.

Those victories in question have come against either Malawi or Ethiopia, although head coach Kaba Diawara would have been left encouraged by his team's showing versus Egypt on Wednesday.

Aided by being on the brink of being assured of a top-two spot in their Africa Cup of Nations qualification group, Guinea took the lead versus the 2021 runners-up, but they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat courtesy of a 79th-minute winner.

Regardless of that setback, Guinea require just one point from their final encounter in Malawi to reach the Finals, and this fixture will be used test themselves ahead of trying to get over the line in their continental competition.

Brazil form (all competitions):

W

W

L

W

L

L

Guinea form (all competitions):

D

L

L

W

W

L

Team News

Of the Brazil XI that started against Morocco, Emerson Royal and Andrey Santos are each missing for the upcoming double-header, and Vanderson could be handed a debut in place of the former at right-back.

Bruno Guimaraes appears most likely to be drafted into midfield, although Raphael Veiga, Joelinton or Andre - who have one cap between them - may be given a start instead.

In attack, Rodrygo could switch to the right flank to accommodate a starting role in the centre for either Richarlison or Pedro, most likely the former who was put in front of the media on Thursday.

As for Guinea, Diawara must decide whether he is prepared to name his strongest side after they just pushed Egypt throughout 90 minutes three days earlier.

Barring a couple of alterations, that is probably the most likely outcome - Naby Keita taking the captain's armband - with centre-back Mohamed Camara and forward Jose Kante potentially getting starts in their respective positions.

The former will likely be as a result of the injury sustained by Valencia's Mouctar Diakhaby against Egypt, although Camara may to be assessed having missed the majority of the second half of the campaign with a torn meniscus.

Brazil possible starting lineup:

Alisson; Vanderson, Ibanez, Militao, Telles; Paqueta, Casemiro, Guimaraes; Rodrygo, Richarlison, Vinicius Junior

Guinea possible starting lineup:

Kone; Conte, Sow, Camara, Sylla; Diawara, Moriba; Guilavogui, Keita, Kamano; Kante

We say: Brazil 4-0 Guinea

As with the previous fixture with Morocco, Menezes has mixed masses of experience with players looking to make their debut. However, unlike against Morocco, we feel that Brazil will make light work of Guinea, the Selecao players motivated to make an impression on any future new manager.

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