Internacional has been one of the in-form teams in the Brazilian Serie A lately, but Mano Menezes’ team now faces a very tough match-up as they visit Fluminense.
Bookmaker William Hill is offering odds at 4.33 for Fluminense to win the match with both teams scoring. The odds are at 4.75 for a score draw and at 9.00 for Internacional to pick up the three points with both sides getting on the scoreboard.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 8th, 6:00 P.M. (EST)
These two were the second and third teams behind champion Palmeiras last season and there is very little separating them again in 2023. In fact, Sunday’s clash comes with both sitting on 21 points with the exact same record – six wins, three draws, and four losses. Both teams have conceded 14 goals in 13 games, although Fluminense’s attack has been slightly better, with the Tricolor scoring 19 times compared to Internacional’s 13 goals.
The poor scoring record resulted in a rough start to the season for Internacional, which included a four-game losing streak, but Menezes has found the right buttons to push in recent weeks and Inter has shot up the table with a run of four wins and two draws in six games. A majority (8) of the team’s goals have come during the six-game spell.
The Internacional attack should soon become a lot more prolific as the team has just added Enner Valencia to the squad. The Ecuadorian forward looks set to make his debut on Sunday. Valencia might be 33 years old by now, but he has just enjoyed an incredible year with 33 goals for Fenerbahce and he looked outstanding at the World Cup, becoming the first South American player to score six consecutive times for his team in the competition.
Fluminense hasn’t recorded a single clean sheet in seven games and manager Fernando Diniz will definitely want to see his team pick things up at the back against a player of Valencia’s quality.
Diniz has plenty of outstanding attacking quality at his disposal as well but his side’s lackluster defensive play has resulted in some very disappointing results for Fluminense lately. The team has picked up just one point from its last four away games. However, playing at the legendary Maracana, Fluminense is an incredibly strong home team that has failed to win in front of its fans just five times in the last 12 months and this means that Internacional’s unbeaten run will be under serious fire Sunday.
