Juventude and Vasco da Gama will be looking to bounce back to winning ways in Brasileiro when they meet in gameweek 10 at Estadio Alfredo Jaconi on Thursday morning.
The hosts will enter this match in 11th place in the league standings with 10 points after eight games, while the visitors are 15th with seven points after nine matches.
Match preview
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Juventude have laid a decent foundation after their first eight matches back in the top flight, currently holding a record of two wins, four draws and two losses, leaving them five points off the top six and four above the drop zone.
Verdao saw their four-match unbeaten run (W1 D3 L0) brought to an end last week when they were beaten 2-1 by Bragantino, who played almost 80 minutes of the match with 10 men after Jadsom was sent off early in the first period.
Helino bagged a brace either side of Mandaca's first-half goal, but across the 90 minutes, Juventude squandered a host of very presentable opportunities and were ultimately made to pay for it by conceding just their second loss of the campaign.
Despite that, Roger Machado's home record since joining the club has been excellent, with just one defeat conceded in 12 games in all competitions, while his side are unbeaten on home soil in the top flight this year.
While these two sides are no strangers to each other, having met in 22 previous encounters, this will be the first time they face off since 2009, when they crossed paths in the second division.
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Meanwhile, Vasco da Gama ended the 2023 Brasileiro season as the first side below Copa Sudamericana qualification, and based on their first nine games this term, they look likely to struggle to qualify for the continental competitions again in this campaign.
Cruzmaltino have managed just one league win to date, while drawing four and losing four of their remaining eight games, and have failed to win any of their last three top-flight matches.
During their current winless run, Felipe Loureiro's side were handed a hefty 6-1 thrashing by high-flyers Flamengo and failed to score in their last two games, losing 2-0 to Palmeiras and drawing goalless at home to Cruzeiro last week.
Undoubtedly the side's biggest issue has been their defensive fragility, having already shipped 19 goals to date, which is the most of any side in the division, four more than basement club Vitoria.
Additionally, the visitors have lost all four of their away games in the top flight this season, conceding two or more goals in three of those matches, while only managing to find the back of the net on two occasions themselves.
Team News
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The hosts will have to make do without Jadson for this match, who will be forced into a watching brief after crossing the yellow card threshold last week against Bragantino.
Machado also has a list of injury absentees, with Thiago Conti, Ze Marcos, Renan Dos Santos, Kleiton, Jean Carlos and Edson Carioca all ruled out until the end of the month.
Vasco da Gama, on the other hand, have missed the influence of former Marseille attacker Dimitri Payet, who is sidelined with a knee injury and expected to remain out for another three weeks.
Goalkeeper Keiller and midfield duo Bruno Praxedes and Paulinho Paula are also ruled out through injury for this match, although Robert Rojas could return to action this week having recovered from a head injury.
Juventude possible starting lineup:
Gabriel; Lucas, Boza, Sam, Rushel; Caique, Oyama, Mandaca; Barbosa, Gilberto, Marcelinho
Vasco da Gama possible starting lineup:
Jardim; Henrique, Maicon, Leo, Luis; Gabriel, Galdames, Estrella; Rossi, Vegetti, Adson
We say: Juventude 1-0 Vasco da Gama
While Juventude saw their wastefulness cost them in the last match, they have been solid at Estadio Alfredo Jaconi in the early stages of this season and will feel that this is a match they can genuinely get three points from.
The visitors have lost four in a row on the road this term, failed to score in their last two away games, and we feel they will suffer another defeat in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
