Brazil U-20 – Tunisia U-20

The six-time world champions will confidently beat their African counterparts

Brazil's path to the World Youth Cup playoffs was not as easy as was predicted before the tournament began. In the first half of the first leg, Italy simply battered the six-time U20 world champions. The Italians scored the opening goal in the 11th minute, and by the 35th minute two set-pieces, a corner and a penalty shoot-out saw the score level at 3-0. The Brazilians came to their senses midway through the second half, but two goals from Santos forward Marcos Leonardo only allowed them to lose deservedly, 2-3. The Brazilians won the subsequent group fixtures against the Dominican Republic and Nigeria by a combined score of 8-0. Of course, the opposition in them was not very serious, but it allowed them to build up their line-up. Brazil scored six points each against Italy and Nigeria, but advanced to the play-offs in first place thanks to a better goal difference. Tunisia's road to the relegation matches was even more difficult. The African Championship semi-finalist lost 0-1 to England in the first round, then defeated Iraq (3-0) before losing to their rivals on statistical grounds. In the last match of the group, Tunisia were called upon to fight for a play-off place against rival Uruguay. The South American team had an overwhelming lead throughout the match. The Uruguayans struck 34 times, seven of which were on target. However, the Tunisians were able to score only on 90+3 minutes. Bookmakers decided Ramon Menezes's charges as favourites to win the last eight final, offering odds of 1.13. Brazil will surely take advantage of Uruguay's experience in playing almost the entire match to shake up the African national team's defence. The Brazilians have many players to hammer out different scenarios, and they have the best pool of talent in the tournament. For example, their striker Marcos Leonardo is worth almost four times as much as the whole Tunisian team put together: fifteen million euros to four. Of course, the African team can lock themselves up defensively or count on luck, as in the game against Iraq, but the opposition are too strong to succeed by any effort. We're betting that the Brazilians will win by at least two goals.