Frank Lorenzo
Brazil (-150) vs. Turkey (+400) (Draw +280)
On Wednesday, November 12, Brazil will visit Turkey looking for their fifth straight win since Dunga took over as head coach following the World Cup debacle. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.
In the moneyline, the Brazilians are favored to win, listed -150; a Turkish victory will pay at +400 and the draw +280.
After Turkey, Brazil travels to Austria on November 18. The five-time world champions will use these games to assess which players fit best into Dunga’s new schemes. The most noticeable improvement since Dunga took over has been on defense. Through four matches as head coach, Dunga’s squad has yet to concede a goal, posting 1-0 wins over Colombia and Ecuador, a 2-0 win over archrival Argentina, and a 4-0 rout over Japan.
Meanwhile, Turkey will use Wednesday’s game as a tune-up for Euro 2016 qualifying. On Wednesday, Turkey will face a relentless Brazilian attack, not unlike what the Netherlands will throw at them in March during Euro qualification. Turkey currently sits last in Group A with two defeats and a draw and are already longshots to qualify for the 2016 tournament. That said, look for the Turks to take the friendly with Brazil seriously in order to build both chemistry and momentum ahead of a must-win qualifier against Kazakhstan on November 16.
(Photo credit: Alan_Hutton,_Scott_Brown_and_Neymar.jpg: Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom derivative work: RanZag (Alan_Hutton,_Scott_Brown_and_Neymar.jpg) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.)
