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In what is one of the most compelling matchups of the Round of 16, Brazil and Mexico go head-to-head Monday in Samara.
In the United States, the game is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET and will be broadcast on both Fox (English broadcast) and Telemundo (Spanish broadcast). If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch the game–and every other World Cup game–live on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
Fox (live in most markets) and Telemundo are both included in the “Fubo Premier” bundle, which has a channel package that is largely tailored towards international soccer fans and also has World Cup live streams available in 4K. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch any World Cup game live on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch the game live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of Cloud DVR (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours), as well as a “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which allows you to watch any World Cup game up to three days after it airs even if you forgot to record it.
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of live TV channels, including both Fox (live in most markets) and Telemundo. You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch every World Cup game live on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch the game live, “Hulu with Live TV” also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials), allowing you to watch any game after it airs.
Fox (but not Telemundo) is included in the “Sling Blue” package. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of both, and you can then watch any World Cup game live on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch a game live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on.
Preview
These teams took two very different paths to their current position.
Brazil, for the most part, dominated as expected. They began their tournament with a somewhat surprising 1-1 draw to Switzerland but followed that up with 2-0 victories over Costa Rica and Serbia to top Group E. Though the five goals in three games probably isn’t quite what most people expected from their stacked attack, they also continued their recent trend of being nearly impenetrable in the back and have now conceded just twice in their last 11 games overall.
Selecao entered as a favorite to win their sixth World Cup, and through three games they haven’t done anything to negate that opinion.
As for Mexico, their first two games went about as well as could have possibly been imagined, as they came away from matches against Germany and South Korea with six points and a plus-two goal differential. After a 3-0 defeat to Sweden, however, it looked like they were going to end up on the wrong side of history as the first team ever to win their first two games of group play and still fail to advance to the knockout stage, but South Korea bailed them out with a win over Germany to secure Mexico’s spot as runner-up in Group F. Ultimately, it wasn’t pretty, as their -1 goal differential is second-worst in the Round of 16 (hi, Argentina), but they’re through, and that’s all that matters.
It was a roller-coaster three matches for El Tri, and it makes them somewhat of an enigma heading into this match. Are they the team that stood toe-to-toe with the defending champions and came away with three points? Or are they the team that collapsed in an ugly way against Sweden?
Tactically, this is an interesting matchup. Brazil always like to push forward, and they won’t be afraid to do that here, but as we saw in Mexico’s game against Germany, El Tri can be dangerous on the counter attack. In fact, they are one of just two teams (Belgium being the other) to score multiple times on the counter this tournament.
Put simply, Brazil is the more talented team, but Mexico is the kind of matchup that can give them problems. This is going to be a good one.