The 4pm kick off today sees Brazil and Switzerland clash in the World Cup Group G game.
Newcastle have a representative on each side, however, both players failed to get any game time in their teams’ opening games.
Neymar is missing for Brazil today forcing Tite into at least one change, but the thinking is that it will be Manchester United’s Fred who bags that place ahead of our own Bruno Guimaraes.
Meanwhile, the Premier League’s most in-form defender, Fabian Schar will be hoping that he is involved today in some capacity after watching Switzerland’s entire first game from the bench with the Swiss boss favouring Manchester City’s Akanji and Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Nico Elvedi.
Would You Rather Our Lads Played At The WC?
Yes. It's about pride
No. Keep 'em fit for us
Again, it might just be a case of the black-and-white tinted gleeps, but how Bruno gets overlooked in place of Fred is baffling to me, and even more so when it comes to Schar not beating out Akanji or Elvedi. They’re both excellent players, for sure, but I don’t believe either are in better form for their club than Schar. International football is just weird.
I suppose, on the plus side, the less game time our lads get the more likely they’ll be fit when they return to Premier League action next month. It’s that big football supporters’ dilemma – seeing your favourite players representing your club on the world’s biggest stage, or seeing them home safe and fit for the “real” football.