France and Brazil weigh up World Cup prospects in glamour friendly
Kylian Mbappe and his France teammates arrived in Boston on Tuesday ahead of their friendly against Brazil (FRANCK FIFE) Brazil and France will be among the leading contenders for World Cup glory later this year and the two heavyweight nations continue their preparations for the tournament by facing off in a glamour friendly in the United States this week. With less than three months until the big kick-off, the countries ranked fifth and third respectively in the world rankings are in the US familiarising themselves with what lies in store in June and July and they go head to head on Thursday at the Gillette Stadium near Boston. The home of NFL side New England Patriots is the venue for the first meeting of these teams in exactly 11 years, since Brazil came from behind to win 3-1 in a friendly at the Stade de France in March 2015 with goals from Oscar, Neymar and Luiz Gustavo.
Brazil laboured their way through South American World Cup qualifying with six defeats in 18 games as they finished fifth -- now they are hoping the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti as coach will give them a genuine chance of winning a record-extending sixth World Cup, and first since 2002. After this match they will head to Orlando, Florida, for a friendly on March 31 against Croatia, the team who ousted them from the 2022 World Cup in the quarter-finals. Neymar is now 34 and has not played for his country since October 2023, but his absence from the squad has still been one of the main talking points coming into these matches.
"It is a physical issue, not technical. With the ball he is great, but he needs to improve physically," Ancelotti said after being asked about the absence of the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain superstar, now at Santos. "Because in my eyes and those of my staff, he is not at 100 percent.
So he needs to keep working to get back to 100 percent. " In the meantime Brazil's main man is Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior, while others likely to have key roles at the World Cup such as goalkeeper Alisson Becker, centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes and midfielder Bruno Guimaraes are missing here. Among those who do feature is Rayan, the uncapped 19-year-old who earned his place after impressing in the Premier League for Bournemouth since arriving from Vasco da Gama in January.
- Mbappe raring to go - The main focus for France, as ever, is Kylian Mbappe, and the national team captain was eager to feature on this trip after overcoming a knee injury to return for Real Madrid just last week. There had been mounting fears in France that the 27-year-old's fitness could become a real issue but he said missing the World Cup or the end of the club season was never a concern. "It is behind me.