World Cup Preview: Brazil vs Mexico - Recent Form, Team News, Predictions & More

Brazil and Mexico will face off on Monday afternoon in the World Cup round of 16 to battle it out for a place in the quarter finals.

Brazil enter the match having won Group E after bouncing back from a draw in their opening fixture to with their final two group games. As for Mexico, they made a very promising start to the tournament having beaten both the reigning champions Germany and South Korea, however a loss in their final game meant they finished second in Group F.

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One of the favourites to win the tournament comes face-to-face against one of the surprise packages, and the eyes of the world will be glued to their screens come Monday afternoon

Current Form

Heading into the tournament Brazil were labelled by many as favourites to win the competition, however after drawing 1-1 with Switzerland in their opening game and just about scraping by Costa Rica in their second match, many began to question whether this was possible.

However after a solid 2-0 win over Serbia, Brazil's campaign looks to be back on track and confidence in the camp is very high. Whilst Brazil had a fairly slow start but have since recovered, Mexico got off to the best possible start but have recently faltered.

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They beat the reigning champions Germany 1-0 in their opening game before securing an impressive 2-1 win over South Korea - but a 3-0 loss to Sweden in their final match meant that El Tri had to rely on South Korea at least holding Germany in order to progress. Thankfully for them, South Korea did just that, beating Germany 2-0.

World Cup Highlights

If the game was to be decided by the history of the teams on paper, it would be a landslide victory for Brazil. 

Brazil are the most successful team in World Cup history having won the competition five times in the years 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and most recently in 2002, and are bidding for a sixth title this year in Russia.

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As for Mexico, they have never won the competition. They have reached the quarter finals twice - both during tournaments hosted in Mexico - yet have failed to go beyond that point. A win over Brazil this time around would take them through to a third quarter final, however the task of beating Seleção in the round of 16 is a lot easier said than done.

Team News

Brazil fans would've been holding their breath when Marcelo was forced off the pitch with a back injury just 10 minutes into their final group game against Serbia. Remarkably the team doctors reported that the cause of the injury was his hotel mattress, therefore he will likely be back for Monday's game - so long as he gets a good night's sleep.

Otherwise they will still be without Douglas Costa who continues to recover from a thigh injury and Danilo who is still suffering from a hip injury - meaning Fagner will likely keep his place at right back.

As for Mexico, they have been very lucky so far with no injury problems hitting the team camp as of yet and will therefore have a full 23-man squad to select from. Their attacking trio of Hirving Lozano, Carlos Vela and Javier Hernandez started in all three group games, and it looks very likely that they will be the attacking trio to play against Brazil.

Predicted Lineups

Brazil (4-3-3): Alisson; Fagner, Silva, Miranda, Marcelo; Casemiro, Paulinho, Coutinho; Willian, Jesus, Neymar

Mexico (4-2-3-1): Ochoa; Alvarez, Salcedo, Moreno, Gallardo; Herrera, Guardado; Layun, Vela, Lozano; Hernandez

Prediction

Both sides will have reasons to be confident heading into the game and despite Mexico's late wobble in the group stage, form will go out of the window as it becomes a win or go home match. Both sides will leave everything on the pitch, and whilst it will be a tight game with fine margins, Brazil should have a little too much quality for Mexico to handle.

Prediction: Brazil 3-1 Mexico