Scotland will park bus, play for draw vs. Brazil
Drew Dinsick and Jay Croucher preview the final Group C matchup between heavy favorites Brazil and Scotland. Playing for a draw would be more than enough the Scots to advance to the next round, which is a good bet.
Video Transcript
Well, Jay, one of the most fascinating parts of the World Cup in terms of where teams will land in the knockout stage really comes down to Morocco, Brazil for me.
The winner of Group C ends up on the bottom half of the draw, where the second place runner ends up on the top.
And I think Scotland versus Brazil is gonna have a lot to determine in terms of where Brazil lands, which will impact the futures market surely.
Scotland, of course, has the one win against Haiti.
If they get a draw here, would almost certainly move into the knockout rounds, which is a huge incentive, I think, for them to play a very defensively-minded game.
that said, they are plus 650 on the three-way.
Brazil is minus 255.
The draw is staring at me, Jay, plus 425 here.
Do you think Scotland can get a point, or does Brazil punch their ticket and win Group C?
Yeah.
No, Scotland's gonna have no interest whatsoever in winning this game.
They went all out defense against Morocco, let alone doing it- against Brazil.
They played a back five against Morocco, and really- had not much interest.
They were pretty happy to just, you know, coast off of the victory that they banked against Haiti, which should see them progress, through the group.
so I think that, you know, they have a very pragmatic coach, a very pragmatic playing style.
I think that they will be playing for a draw, which is more than they need.
So long as they don't get blown out in this game, they should be fine to progress to the next round.
This Brazil team is very strange.
They're very imbalanced.
They have, world-class center backs, in Gabriel and Marquinhos.
They have an incredible front three in Vinicius and Raphinha, either side of Matheus Cunha, but they don't have a very good midfield.
It's aging, and I don't think they have, the complementary profiles there.
And then the real problem with this team is the fullbacks just aren't up to, typical, or at least historical Brazilian standards with, you know, guys like Danilo and Santos.
They haven't really been able to complement Vinicius and Raphinha in front of them.
So I think this is gonna be a strange game.
I think it's gonna be very uneven.
I think it's gonna be lacking in rhythm, 'cause I think you have a Scotland team that is really sitting back with a lot of numbers behind the ball.
and then a Brazil team that would love to get out and transition and love to use Vinicius and Raphinha in space, which is what makes this team most special.
But I don't think they're gonna have that much space against this, Scotland team that I think will park the bus.
So, I would lean low-scoring, and I wouldn't be, I wouldn't be shocked if it's a draw in the end.
